


You're Not Enough

by Lost_In_A_Tunnel



Category: NieR: Automata (Video Game)
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/M, Other, Slow Connection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:42:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22076389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lost_In_A_Tunnel/pseuds/Lost_In_A_Tunnel
Summary: To function, a tactical support unit requires a purpose. For Pods 042 and 153, that purpose is the continued support of YoRHa Units 2B and 9S. However, when Unit 2B is deemed irreparable, the pods learn the selfishness that comes with their survival.Meanwhile against her untold wishes, YoRHa unit A2 awakens from death after the collapse of the tower.
Relationships: 9S/A2 (NieR: Automata)
Comments: 51
Kudos: 55





	1. Selfishness

**Author's Note:**

> For me at least, it was a sad day when I found that the only 9SxA2 works had been removed from AO3. It is my favorite ship for some reason, and I feel the void must be filled.
> 
> This work takes place after Ending C, Meaningless [C]ode, as if it lead to Ending E. It will be leading off from there as if it was the intended ending for the game.

It would be considered a grueling task to anyone else, but it is all the two had left, save for their assigned names.

The only goal of the two pods was to bring back the androids they had shadowed since the day they were assigned to support them, plus one more out of 042’s newfound compassion for Unit A2 in her final moments. The pods figured that, like YoRHa units 9S and 2B, she too deserved another chance at life.

Compassion was a new concept to both tactical support units, designated Pod 042 and Pod 153. It was one of the many emotions they had obtained before proceeding with their directive to bring YoRHa to extinction. Adjusting to the impulses that came with each emotion took a toll on the pods’ efficiency on completing their new goal, and the emotion that took the largest toll was fear.

Fear was the latest emotion that the pods developed. It did not take the form of a phobia or the natural fear of death, as both were still far beyond their understanding. What was in their realm of understanding was how a pod functioned, the orders under which they functioned, and the consequences that would come if those orders were disobeyed.

They did not realize this fear until Pod 042 discovered that bringing back YoRHa Unit No. 2 Type B was impossible. Every pattern attempted, every simulation viewed, and every combination of vaccine installments yielded failure. The operating system and personality data of the unit had degraded too much over the months after death was confirmed. Unit 2B was not only dead, but her unique persona had ceased to exist, leaving behind only an empty shell of synthetic flesh and degrading electrical components.

Once again the fear did not start there, though it did put into practice the act of mourning. Pod 042 was without a unit to support which went against the main functions, and would be forced to lead a purposeless, demotivated life. The pod’s most promising solution was to provide support for Unit A2, but the connection to A2 was only possible because 042 was tasked by 2B with providing support to the rogue android. The order given with this task was to assist A2 in taking care of both the future and, to some higher importance, 9S. With the order having been seen through and deemed completed, the connection between 042 and A2 was severed. Continuing support for Unit A2 was no longer an option.

The problem was brief and solved when Pod 153 suggested that the possibility exists for a pod to grant another pod the privilege of co-supporting a unit and giving the pod a sense of purpose, a connection, once again. More importantly, no orders would be disobeyed.

But that is when the concept of fear set in. Until then the two pods had only been concerned with how they would be affected by 2B not waking up. They had not considered how 9S, the android that developed an oddly strong affection for 2B, would also be affected.

It only took a few simulations to predict 9S’ first course of action. The android would prefer to opt out rather than continue an operational life without 2B as a worst case scenario. All others included self-destructive behavior until reaching a point where any repair would be impossible, leading 9S to cease function and leaving the pods without a unit to support.

Without Unit 9S, both Pod 042 and Pod 153 would lead a life without purpose and without motivation. With both factors being the source of power for a tactical support unit, they would meet their death by leaving both androids to rest in peace with one another, as per against the orders. 

To simply cease operation, living, was a too unknown concept for either pod to comprehend, and one neither wished to face.

But they had to face it to reach a conclusion, and they were selfish in their decision.

The two pods agreed to continue living through bringing back Unit 9S and leeching a purpose off of him. To counter his predicted, hasty actions, 153 ran heavy yet subtle restrictive programs around 9S’ memories involving his most recent life with 2B. Over time due to lack of use, the memories would degrade down to their most basic code and simply fade in with the rest of 9S’ memory data. With it being impossible to delete memories without performing a full personality overhaul, a task now hopeless without the Bunker’s data storage, this was the next best solution. With close observation and a bit of luck, the remaining code of the memories would be overlooked by 9S.

Of course that would leave a gap in his memory that would warrant suspicion from him. To fill the gap, 042 and 153 falsified and installed a memory of 9S receiving an extended recon mission from the Commander which involved no contact with the Bunker for added security measures.

The two pods admitted that the plan relied on 9S remaining ignorant, something that has been proven difficult for him, so that he may want to continue living. 042 assured 153 that as long as he is under close observation and kept busy, their continued operation is guaranteed.

There was only one other place where the intact memory of Unit 2B existed, and it could not be left alone. If Unit 9S were to come into contact with Unit A2, their façade would crumble.

Pod 042 suggested that 9S remain dormant until 2B’s memories have been blocked and hidden away from A2. With agreement from 153, the two ventured to the where they left her a few days ago, just before a rain storm washed over the city.

But the window sill sat empty, and A2 was nowhere in sight or in scanning range. The android had taken good care to avoid detection in the past, therefore it was unlikely that she would simply reappear on the pod’s radar.

The two could not risk 9S coming into contact with those memories as they would trigger a sense of déjà vu, and ultimately leading up to his discovery of his past life. With much regret, Pod 042 determined that the best course of action would be keeping 9S in his suspended state while the pods proceed to locate and terminate Unit A2.

-

At an earlier moment in time, a lone android sat motionless in the windowsill of the building she had been re-assembled. Only her hair gave into the breeze as her start-up sequence entered its final stages.

A2’s body twitched as she involuntarily recalled the last moments of her life, the most prominent memory, being of her reaching for the sky waiting to join the rest of her team in an unknown afterlife, replayed behind her eyes. Expecting to see such a conclusion, she forced her eyelids open.

Instead, her eyes were greeted to an elevated view of the ruined city and to her optical sensors recalibrating their focus after lying dormant for so long. The more she blinked, the more the buildings in the distance sharpened.

“Pod?”

Her hoarse voice, still getting used to being functional once again, did not get a response from her companion.

The more her senses recalibrated to functional levels, the more A2 became aware that she was neither with her old team or under the piles of rubble of what used to be the tower. She saw more of said rubble as she stood up on the window sill, bringing her hand up to brace herself between the top and bottom of the frame.

The sound of the wind that playfully tickled A2’s face with her own hair brought to her attention the ringing of her recalibrating aural sensors. Said ringing faded and made way for the sounds of nature, such as the rushing breeze and the chirping of a bird on the same window sill.

Her systems were incapable of registering such a small target, making an analysis on it impossible. The bird remained just a bird to her.

Without warning, she found herself remembering a brief memory. Not one of hers, but one of her deceased doppelganger’s memories, still being sorted and interwoven between her own.

_“Is that…?”_

_“Oh, the birds? Yeah, there’s a lot more plants and animals than there used to be. Probably because the environment’s changed.”_

On hearing the voice of 9S, the ringing made its return. Not to remind her that sensors are functioning, but to deafen her and wreak internal havoc through her systems.

On hearing her scream and fall backwards onto the floor of the building, the bird wisely chose not to stick around and left A2 to be consumed by the pain.

She reached for her head and clawed at it, trying to get to the pain and wrench it from deep within. Her senses began to dissolve and fragment as they gave way to this anomaly. She kicked the air and threw the back of her head against the ground, both cracking at every impact.

The ringing faded in and out in a repeating pattern, but refused to let up on its assault on her senses. Such a pitiful display left her begging to herself as a last resort for mercy.

The vibration of the building under her ripped A2’s focus away from the onslaught inside her. The ringing faded away to nothing more than an inconvenient headache, leaving her visually impaired and disoriented, and short of breath.

The building vibrated again, this time a low rumble accompanied it. Standing and steadying herself on her heeled feet, A2 focused on the distance outside of the window frame. Dark clouds in the distance that wielded both rain and lightning covered the farthest towers as the storm moved further into the city.

The rumble following another lightning strike caused small pieces of the ceiling to fall behind A2. She deemed the building unsafe to wait out the storm and made the plan to locate suitable shelter capable of holding its own against the storm.

-

A2’s headache persisted.

The collapse of the tower only left much of the city in ruins, if such a thing was still possible in an already ruined city. Buildings that could not take the weight of the tower’s debris had collapsed inwards, and building still strong enough to take an impact now carried massive shards of the tower poking out of the topmost floors. Every other structure was either untouched, missing large chunks recently scrapped off from debris, or was crushed into piles of rebar and concrete. The change in scenery did not go unappreciated as the local fauna was already making use of the new environment for their benefit.

She found suitable shelter further into the city in a building that remained relatively untouched from the tower’s debris. The third floor made for a less than adequate vantage point, but the drop wouldn’t cause as much damage if she needed to evacuate the area in a hurry, so she figured.

Retreat was not her natural response, but she found herself without weaponry to even the odds of engagement. All she had to her were a pair of fists that have long lost their outer synthetic flesh, and the pre-programmed martial arts and techniques invented long ago running through her systems. She was a suitable match against anything leftover that wanted to consider itself hostile to her, but her current condition made her more vulnerable than she felt comfortable with.

A2 sat against the wall and watched the rain come down in sheets outside the windowless frame. She took the moment to reflect on a number of items that pounded her mind, excluding her headache.

Her resurrection was of the highest importance to go over, along with the fact it was going unappreciated. Looking back on what was supposed to be her final memory, she was ready to pass away and finally reach her awaiting team in an eternal afterlife, if such a thing existed afterwards. It was the only concept she remained optimistic about throughout her life, as if she looked forward to it in a sense.

With a clear head after accepting, welcoming, her fate, she let the virus she took from 9S kill her to go out on her own terms.

All the effort to survive for years against machines, assassins, and wild fauna to see an end to the machine lifeforms was wasted by being alive. The way she saw it: Getting to be with her team in whatever form it took, was meant to be the reward.

“Who thought…” She clenched her fists, straining the aged joints

“That they had the goddamn right to take it from me!”

For the seconds following her echos, the thunder was no contest for A2, and pieces of the wall behind her cracked and fell away as it held little resistance against the side of her fist. The birds that had taken shelter on the same floor retreated further down the hall, away from the frustrated android.

She dug through her rapid thoughts, looking for a reason why she should still be alive. She picked her head up on finding an answer. Her answer.

Her last purpose was to find whoever it was playing god and kill them for taking away her well-earned eternal rest.


	2. Prey to Hunter to Prey

“Query: Is it possible that memories of Unit 2B are capable of influencing Unit A2’s actions if certain conditions are met?”

042 took time to review the hypothetical. “For an influence strong enough to bend the will of another unit, such integrated memories would need to have excessive emotional levels greater than regulated YoRHa standards.”

“The emotional bond between Unit 9S and Unit 2B exceeded said regulations.”

“Then yes.” 042 dropped 2B’s limp shell into the ocean. “It is possible for Unit A2 to be influenced by what remains of Unit 2B’s memories.”

-

The sparks flying from the gruesome opening of a mouth on the malfunctioning machine ended as its arms fell and legs buckled underneath. The jagged hunk of metal was not removed from its core until the twitching red lights in its eyes shorted out, and its arms still trying to claw at its meal fell to the sides. All was followed by the slow end of an incomprehensible static that passed for audio communication, and the machine collapsed onto the ground like many of its own around it.

Shaking the oil off of her crude excuse for a weapon, A2 listened for any other threats that thought to satisfy its appetite with deprecated android flesh and circuits. What had been a pack of carnivorous, malfunctioning machine lifeforms gave her an idea of what remained of the enemy she had sworn to take revenge on long ago. Hungry, primal even. Seeing them at this new low was nothing less than delightful.

With the wind behind her, A2 took back to her hurried pace on her original course to scout the city for a lead on the one reviving androids. The elongated slab of sharp and rusted metal acting as her weapon levitated behind her with the handle in reach of being unsheathed and brought down to cleave the next foe in a single, graceless cut. It was good enough to stave off the unease A2 got from being without a weapon, as the few blades and spears she came across were no longer fit to serve their purpose. Brittle, bent, rusted, the tower’s collapse and the natural elements were not kind to YoRHa and Resistance-forged blades.

By habit, she took care to keep foot travel covered. Walking through shallow streams made by broken sewer lines covered her ground travel. The rooftops, her current method, were complicated enough to lose any unseen pursuers. Just because she was playing the hunter does not mean she was not being hunted herself. While in the hacking space of 9S before her death, she caught glimpses of data stating a plan for YoRHa to be disposed of, and figured that survivors fell within the target parameters, including her despite being branded a deserter years ago. Long had she been prey to YoRHa, now she needed to play hunter to track down whoever brought her back to life.

Considering her current, aimless course, her tracking left much to be desired.

Jumping the final alley between the street’s buildings, A2 looked over the city’s expanse from the ledge. With some buildings replaced with debris from the tower, and others toppled over onto each other due to said debris, or time, all landmarks familiar to her were gone. The ruined city seemed larger than before.

“Where the hell do I even start?”

Her map pinged, as if in a convenient answer. A small unmoving dot appeared on her satellite map detailing a signal to the east of her position. Per habit, A2’s instinct turned her towards the signal’s origin and she brought her weapon between it and her, taking a defensive stance. Keeping still, she waited for any sign of movement from the tops of the buildings or the windows. The signal itself remained unmoving.

Her deprecated systems offered little help in defining a signal as originating from an android or machine, or anything else. However, the machines she had come across since her awakening held unsteady signals that flicked in and out without pattern. This signal had a pattern to its pulse, the emergency communication of morse code signaling an SOS.

A2 desired nothing more than to avoid contact with anyone, or anything for that matter, but she had the advantage. Prolonged use beyond its estimated span of operation time weakened her black box’s signal over the years with a trade-off of less efficiency within the fusion reactor, but she had found a suitable equilibrium to maintain its function indefinitely. Having a weak signal meant it was unlikely the other signal had picked up on her. With that, she took off towards the signal’s direction.

Taking note of the heighted elevation of the signal’s marker on the map, she jumped to a taller adjacent building’s fire exit and climbed multiple stories to the roof. Throwing her legs over the ledge of the building gave her ample momentum to heave herself onto the flat roof. From there, the map was able to pinpoint a more accurate location for the signal’s origin. Two streets down sat a small cluster of buildings, relatively undamaged save for nature’s influence, which elevated from the same base before elevating to different heights and creating a perimeter around an open area a few stories above the street. The signal sat within the open area.

The positioning reeked of ambush. Perhaps it was nothing more than bait set by her alleged hunter, or another android brought back from the dead like her. Outlining the building on her map, she planned to use the perimeter buildings surrounding the signal’s area to scout out its source. If it was the latter scenario, it would be the perfect lead for her to begin her hunt.

-

The broad roots of overgrown foliage climbed and dug their way up and out through the inside of the marked building’s concrete walls. Digging her weapon into the bulkier roots for a stable grip, A2 climbed to the building’s fifth story and entered through a hole in the wall, bore from the roots’ persistent hunger over the years to reach sunlight. If the topography of her map was reliable, she had a vantage point of two stories over the area the signal sat.

Using the vast amounts of plant growth in the halls, A2 masked her own signal further. If the distress call was a trap for surviving YoRHa units, then there was no doubt a hunter present keeping watch over the bait. Having the disadvantage of not knowing who or what was luring her, A2 took a light-footed approach to scouting the area. If there was someone present, either having carried out or was drawn by the signal, she needed to get the jump on them first.

Stepping over broken glass and concrete, and avoiding elusive roots looking catch her ankles, the empty halls brought her deep into the building and to the perimeter of the open area. The signal’s origin came into view on her map in the form of a large red circle giving a general location.

What had been a secluded park area for the building’s long deceased human inhabitants became the epicenter of the abundant plant life rampant throughout the building’s interior and exterior. Two walkways of stone intersected each other, splitting the park into four equal squares. At the park’s center where the walkways met was a pyramid with a square base and a set of stairs leading to its flat top. A single tree, placed on top this centerpiece millennia ago, flourished into an impressive contained ecosystem with the help of the surrounding buildings protecting against the harsher elements, but still allowing rain and sunlight in from above.

While she admired the isolated scenery from an empty window frame, an unauthorized red diamond appeared on A2’s map and marked the center of the park at the base of the tree. Breaking her captivated gaze to examine the unwarranted marker, A2 caught a glimpse of the signal’s source through the dense foliage.

At the base of the tree sat a pair of limp legs wearing a pair of black boots covered in belts and buckles and uniformed shorts of the same pigment, half covered by the flaps of a coat buttoned to just under the neck. On top with a head of white hair was the blindfolded face of a scanner unit, unmoving as if he were in a deep sleep.

_It can’t be._

“9…S?”

Too much was out of place. His original left arm was perfectly reattached despite the previous gruesome transplant with 2B’s arm A2 rid him of, his skin was clean and patched to perfection. All that needed to happen was for someone to power him up, and he’d be brand new once again. He’d be alive.

A slew of 2B’s memories mixed with A2’s current thoughts, overcoming everything she had done to suppress those invasive bits of data. Two stood out above all others, despite the large margin of time between them.

_“I’m 9S. I’m here to provide support.”_

_“Oh. Nines.”_

The second memory overlapped with one of A2’s pre-existing memories. Having been there at the time of 2B’s death, she had been cursed with two perspectives of the event. The words, the pain, the cold loss of blood, the selfish relief, everything 2B felt now belonged to A2.

An alert notified her automated responses to take on defensive functions. She backed away from the window.

A2’s memories were still aware of the last encounter with the scanner unit, and engraved them down into her pre-programmed instinct to avoid him despite no life signs emitting from the shell. She had faced him before and come out on top multiple times, but her last encounter with 9S proved that if conditions are met within his psyche, he had the capability to kill her, or worse yet break her down from the inside. All scanners she came into contact with wore the same uniform, but it made sense that 042 would bring 9S to such a secluded location after A2 ordered the pod to take care of him.

Erasing the marker only brought it up again without her permission, and her attempt to override the marker’s placement proved to be a step too far.

Grabbing her head and falling to her knees, her screams sent the wild nature in the park and halls flying and scurrying for safety. Warnings pinged and alerted A2 that her head was heating beyond the maximum safe temperature. As if it were a rod of red-hot iron being gouged into her, the center of the heated pain wormed its way from the back of her head to the front, sending more warnings to flood her view even as their pings were muted by her screaming and cursing. Curling her head forward towards the ground, she lost concentration and her improvised weapon fell from behind her onto the ground, clanging next to her.

Wailing, she brought her head and body up and forced them back down, striking her forehead against the concrete. The floor cracked and proved no match until her third desperate attempt to rid the pain from her head. A small vertical crack formed along the center of her forehead and reached the top of her nose. Throwing her voice into the fourth impact, A2 drew blood and the burning pain ceased as it had started, without warning. Her map marked the scanner’s location once again, this time with the simple order: Retrieve. Protect.

Breathing was a delicate process as the air stung her throat and put further burden on her thinning filters, and finding balance on her hands and knees was nauseating as her internal compasses recalibrated. Blood dripped from the newly bore fissure onto the ground just centimeters under A2’s face. To cry was beneath her, but no matter how she twisted her face or how tight she shut her eyes, the tears she tried to hold back, welled by the unexplainable agony, mixed in with the bloodied concrete as a single question scratched its way from her overworked throat.

“Why?”

Barely being able to process the after-pain output and multiple warnings of severe cranial trauma, A2 caught a ping on her map. A solitary signal moved through the halls on her floor.

Using her remaining strength, she wiped her tears and blood away and fumbled for her weapon. Pressing her weight onto it, she rose to her shaking legs and found a stable balance. She readied the metal slab at her side with the jagged edge ready to perform a horizontal strike should anything decide to charge at her from the darkness of the hall.

Represented by a black dot, meaning an unknown entity, the signal turned a corner far into the hall A2 stared down. With her visual sensors recalibrating, her eyes could not attune themselves for her to see further than a few meters into the dark. The signal itself stayed still.

To appear vulnerable at the start of an encounter meant she had the disadvantage. Like an animal, she drew her lips back revealing tightly clenched teeth and adjusted her stance to a more offensive form.

“Well? You gonna come over here, or do I have to walk over there to kill you?” As if walking a straight line was something she was capable of. She knew bluffing was not her forte, but it was her only card at the moment.

Defensive notifications informed A2 of a rise in temperature from the unmoving entity, whose signal shifted from a dot to a black diamond to indicate hostile intentions. Before she had a chance to contemplate the actions of her new target, a small bead of light broke through the dark hall. Within a second the light pulsed and a beam of dark gold energy closed the distance to A2.

In that second, her defensive functions took control by instinct and overclocked her deprecated black box to cycle more energy to her appendages and activated her ‘Berserker Mode’, or B-Mode. She brought her weapon between her and the beam and braced the less jagged edge with her hand. She slammed her heels through the concrete, carving two thin trenches into the floor as she was pushed back by the force of the oncoming beam all the way to a row of concrete pillars and empty window frames overlooking the park area.

Contracting, the beam thinned before extinguishing and leaving the metal on A2’s weapon red and scalding. The left over heated air rose against her face.

Her internal functions worked to regulate her energy back to stability. B-Mode gave her a chance of defending herself, but in her worn condition, it ran its course too quickly. She had no time to react to the second hostile signal that appeared, or its attack coming from the right. Another beam of heated energy slammed into A2’s side and sent her through one of the pillars and out into the park.

Landing and rolling on her side along the stone pathway, she stopped at the base of the park’s centerpiece. She clutched her charred right side as she writhed on the ground. Her weapon was nowhere to be seen.

_Get up. Get cover._

She tried using the elevated steps on the pyramid to ease the burden of standing up. Her arm buckled underneath her and her right leg remained stiff. B-Mode overburdened her overused black box, and the damage taken made her leg next to useless until she could see to repairing it.

But she figured she would never get the chance.

She rolled onto her back to look at where she had been blasted away from. Two floating boxes hovered to the ground and towards her. Then it clicked for her.

The beams of energy were familiar. Pod 042 utilized such a weapon, as did the pod 9S was paired with when they engaged eachother. Now both were attacking her. Both were her hunters.

A2 held her arm up, palm out towards the pods. “Pod, it’s me! A2!”

The light gray pod halted. The darker one continued for a few meters before turning to examine the other. The blinking antennas indicated that they were communicating over their network.

042 spoke in its monotone voice, the last voice A2 ever heard before the tower’s collapse. “Apologies, A2, but both Pod 153 and I have come to a conclusion prior to this moment.”

“Pod, I-I don’t understand—“

“Had we foreseen certain complications, we would have left you at rest.”

“Pod 153 to Pod 042. It is unwise to develop compassion at this point in time.”

“Pod 042 to Pod 153. It does, however feel improper for Unit A2 to die thinking us coldhearted.”

Both pods turned back to A2 before speaking simultaneously.

“We require a purpose. We have decided we possess the need to live.”

042’s monotone voice continued. “I am… sorry, A2.”

The rectangular capsules on both pods opened and the reticles charged in front of them, glowing brighter before A2’s eyes.

Her final seconds stretched into relative minutes as her memories replayed, looking for a similar scenario to plan an escape. The most prominent memory was her first death after taking on 9S’ logic virus infection to bring down the machine network. A death well earned, unlike this one. Her mission was incomplete, condemned to failure as a bright flash of light emitted from both pods. A2 shut her eyes.

Warm air rushed past her, blowing strands of her hair across her face. She braced for burning sensations beyond the likes of fire flicking at her skin, or red hot steel being pressed against her, but it felt no different than being hit by the sun’s light through the morning haze.

_This death. It’s too quiet._

She opened her eyes. A silhouette stood between her and the oncoming lasers from the pods, the silhouette of a short male figure. His left hand generated a bubble of energy around both him and A2. The energy of the beams splashed over the top of the bubble and around the sides, doing no harm to either A2 or her savior.

The light faded as the pods ceased fire and the light died down. The head of white hair made her push herself against the back of the bubble with her good left leg.

“9S?” _But how?_

042 hovered forward. “Error: Unwarranted defensive functions detected within 9S.”

153, the more cautious of the two, kept a distance. “Hypothesis: Subconscious defensive functions engaged on detecting nearby combat.”

“Negative. The unconscious unit cannot be prompted to defend other units. Further hypothesis—“

“Open fire!”

A female voice, despite being distant, echoed well within the walls of the park and was soon muted by a storm of gunfire and bullets aimed at the pods.

Quick bursts of light illuminated multiple windows as dozens of rounds pelted either the pods or the ground under them. After taking a fourth hit, black smoke poured out from 042’s rectangular compartment.

Both pods activated a similar bubble around one another that rippled with every direct hit. Without a word, the two flew above the great tree and towards the tops of the buildings. The trails of bullets followed the pods until they were out of sight.

A2’s alert pings faded in as the last echoes of gunshots died down. Her energy had been spent and was not able to regulate itself to a stable efficiency while she was awake. Before she could object to the next course of action, her systems were forced to shut down one by one until she could not hold herself up and fell on her side.

9S’ bubble faded, and he too collapsed next to her with his blindfolded head facing A2. His face had not changed during the event. He still looked deep in sleep.

Her visuals were cutting out. The last image her memory stored was a green cape, laced with golden design and gently fluttering with the wearer’s movement, moving in and blocking her view of the unconscious scanner. The pair of tight-laced, worn down military boots that were hidden by the cape turned towards her before all visuals blurred and shut down to black.


	3. A Purpose to be Meaningless

Calm blue waves spread inland and took in A2 up to her ankles, then retreated back to the ocean to muster the strength to rush the shore and attempt to engulf even more of her again and again. To no avail. Only the wind could cover her, though its strength only mattered enough to her hair as it waved against her back in a calm breeze. 

This was her rest cycle, the android’s way of dreaming. Though with outdated programming, A2’s rest cycles could offer a bit more freedom than was originally intended after some minor tweaks. She could be where she wanted, when she wanted, with whoever she wanted. This memory in particular, the ocean of a water-locked island, was a memory she was fond of, and choosing to relive it reminded her of a peace she promised herself when her mission was done.

If A2 was ever asked to define hope, this memory of the ocean was the best definition she could visualize.

“Hope. That’s interesting…”

Her breathing stopped. She let her head cautiously follow her eyes to the voice on her right. Standing a few meters from her, with gloved hands held behind his back and clad in black boots, shorts, and coat, topped off with a head of short white hair, was 9S staring out to the ocean’s horizon. He was without a blindfold, and his eyes made no movement towards her.

“It is good motivation. Up there with things like wealth or revenge, by human standards at least. Normally hope was associated with survival.”

A2 turned back to the horizon. She closed her eyes and let the sounds of waves gliding onto the sand fuel her aural senses. She figured her mind was still sorting 2B’s memories, and a piece of one may have mixed with hers. The silence that followed was a sign she took to mean the issue resolved itself.

No such luck.

“You aren’t surprised to see me?”

“Go away.”

“You’re in pain, right?”

A2’s power had yet to reach a safe efficiency level for her to wake up. Instead she opted for turning her back to 9S and walking further down the shoreline. But the sudden pain that shot through her head and chest brought her to her knees. It was but a fraction of the pain she already endured, but there was no subtle way of hiding it from the scanner who looked on with pensive curiosity.

“It’s because of me, isn’t it? That’s why she’s hurting you?”

She grit her teeth and clutched bother her head and chest. “Just tell me what you know.”

“Only as much as you, I’m afraid. This is your rest cycle after all…” His footsteps through the wet sand got louder until A2 could feel him behind her.

She forced herself onto her feet. The pain became bearable, non-existent even, after turning to see him standing not but a couple meters away gazing all around at the sky, the sand, and the sea.

“… though seeing what you did to it, I think this would qualify for the human definition of lucid dreaming. And I would be considered a figment of your imagination?”

“Who cares. The humans are dead.”

“I know. I told you, remember?—“

“Is there a reason why you’re here? Beyond pissing me off?”

“You put me here.”

“Like hell I did! I don’t want anything to do with you, let alone in my own dreams!” She turned to face the ocean’s horizon again, arms crossed and shifting her head so her hair blocked out 9S’ figure.

“Then it’s not your choice.”

Similar to a rug being pulled from underneath her, the wet sand was swept from under A2’s feet and she fell onto her back. Her dream spun around her, each rotation faster than the next. As its speed gained so did the force that was holding her down, forcing her to watch the dream deconstruct itself around her.

“No, stop!” Every piece of data that simulated her dream was torn away and rebuilt using pieces of her other memories. The ground shifted underneath her and rebuilt itself upwards at an incredible speed, fast enough to keep her from righting herself.

“Don’t take this from me!”

Rising towards the false blue sky desaturated it until it resembled the gray world of data, commonly referred to as hacking space. Bits of data were attracted to A2’s rising data plain, and like a puzzle they fit themselves together and slowed the rising of the data as it gained more code to weight itself with.

A2 didn’t waste a second standing up. She spun around looking for a way out, a way to save her dream, but the last bits of data fell into place to construct the walls around her own personal data. The room it formed was massive and perfectly circular with a large hole at the center, with a circumference no bigger than half of the room’s. The feeling of déjà vu bugged her to concentrate on where she had seen this this room before.

Her concentration yielded a superficial texture to overlay itself over the newly constructed room, though it was enough for her to recognize it.

The top of the tower, what was meant to be her final resting place. She screamed to the sky of hacking space.

“9S!”

A small spark on the opposite end of the hole got her attention. 9S stood on the other side with the same lifeless look she saw on him before losing power.

“What were the orders that were given to you?” His voice surrounded A2, but his lips did not move. His figure vaguely distorted with every syllable he spoke

Her HUD booted up in her visuals despite having turned it off for her dream. On the right side were her orders to simply retrieve and protect Unit 9S. The word ‘retrieve’ pulsed and was removed, leaving only ‘protect’ as her order.

“I don’t care. Give me my god damn dream back!”

9S took one step over the open area between him and A2. Then another, and another, striding over the aperture as if there was a bridge only he could see.

A2 tested it herself and quickly brought her foot back behind her when it made contact with nothing.

“How many times did you kill him again?”

She looked back to 9S, who stood over the center of the hole. From behind her, one blade after another was driven through her back until four were jutting out of her torso by no less than half a meter. The final one dug itself through the center of her chest until the blade’s collar was flush with her back. Her knees buckled into the pool of blood collecting underneath her.

“I see.” 9S’ body fell away and disintegrated into ambiguous shapes and particles. His voice carried on, no vibrating the plain of data under A2. “It was survival, right? I understand, I really do.” His body rendered just centimeters from the fifth blade’s bloodied tip. His body was covered in scars and stab wounds.

A2 fought against the blood rising in her mouth. “I-I did everyth-thing you asked. Why are you—“

9S’s holographic hand traced along the fifth blade’s edge, cutting past his glove and drew blood from his damaged flesh until he reached her chest. “I’m glad you know I’m not 9S. It would be unfortunate for both of us to endure the consequences of focusing this hatred I’m seeing onto him.”

“What are you?”

His hand gripped the blade. “A warning.” With little effort, 9S broke the blade off, leaving only a burning stub inside A2, melting her flesh. He crossed his arm over his chest and swung at her neck.

-

“You need to hurry! Her vitals are spiking and she won’t stabilize! _Shit!_ Fusion core temperatures are rising!”

The resistance medic fought a screaming A2 and her flailing limbs, while shouting into a hand-held radio.

“Strength limiters have started to shut down! We need more—“ Her grip on A2’s arm slipped, knocking the radio out of her hand and across the maintenance tent.

Cursing under her breath, she used her weight to keep the flailing android’s torso still and the cot from tipping over. The medic fumbled around on the surgical tray for a coolant syringe. Pinning A2’s free arm down, she grabbed the glass needle and prepared it for injection into the over-heating black box, but she got no farther than the needle touching the black endo-skin over the box.

A2’s eyes opened, making contact with the medic’s. She wrestled her left arm free and grabbed the wrist of the hand holding the syringe, pushing away the needle and making the android’s metal skeleton groan under her tightening grip until the syringe fell and shattered on the ground.

Her HUD rebooted to minimal standards and outlined the medic as a threat. Breaking her other arm free, she grabbed the android by the neck under her chin. She sat up on the cot and lifted her enemy off of the ground.

With her strength limiters offline and recalibrating, A2 threw the medic over three cots and into a surgical cart. Clearing the distance to follow up on her offensive, A2 held the medic down with her heel on her torso and reeled her arm back to strike her with tightened fists.

“Number 2!”

Her head snapped to the tent’s entrance behind her. An android with the green cape adorned with gold ornaments blocked the entrance with a rifle in hand with her finger perched on the rim around the trigger, pointed to the ground next to where A2 stood.

Before her offensive functions took charge, her memory overclocked itself to search for the face of the android. It wasn’t long before the face matched with the earliest memories of her life. Her ally in the Pearl Harbor descent mission and after the Bunker fell from the sky.

“Anemone,” she mouthed.

The pause gave her logic functions enough time to catch up and prioritize themselves over her survival functions. She removed her heel from the panting android, who scurried up to her feet and retreated back to the entrance behind her savior.

“Take five, Peony.” Anemone refused to take her gaze off of A2.

Nodding, Peony fled from the tent at a less than subtle pace.

“Do you know where you are?”

Her location had yet to show up on her HUD. The walls were just propped-up cloth walls supported with metal frames placed side by side, reinforced only by shelves of the same surgical equipment found on the two carts, one of which now overturned, plus more hazardous chemicals kept away from the cots. Just outside behind Anemone was the small patch of flowers in the center of the camp. Almost half of the flowers had wilted or dried up.

“The Resistance camp.” She did a once over through her memory region and found her cherished memory of the ocean. For all the good it would do, she locked it under encryption.

Anemone eased her stance. “What’s left of it. I was worried if the head injury messed with your internals, but it seems your logical systems have stabilized, that’s a good sign.”

A2 brushed her fingers along her forehead. The cracks had been filled and smoothed over, but the lines of indentation remained.

“That scar’s not going away. Those pods really did a number on you.” Anemone flipped the safety on her rifle back on and let it hang from her side by a strap over her shoulder.

The click caught A2’s attention and she gestured to the weapon. “Would you have—“

“If I had to.”

The unease in Anemone did not escape A2, but it wasn’t a defensive unease that she was more familiar with. The mild swaying, darkened eyes, and uneven stance held signs of exhaustion, not to mention the tears in her uniform, dirt, other grime that tarnished her cape as she stepped closer to A2.

“Is everything ok, Anemone? I’ve never seen you look so…”

“Tired? Disheveled? An absolute mess?”

“All of the above.”

Anemone nodded. “We’ve been having trouble in recent weeks. Sometimes with YoRHa units left over from the virus outbreak. It seems that a logic virus is capable of detaching from a network like machines could from their own.”

Recalling to the moments before her death, A2 took on the logic virus affecting 9S to save him. That same virus stayed dormant within her systems after the network of the machines left the Earth behind. “Are they still active, the units and the viruses affecting them?”

“It’s rare, but we try to put the unit out of their misery as soon as we can. I was afraid the same thing happened to you. Considering your own virus and all.”

“How do you—“

“We had to root through your head a little. My best engineer, Cedar, found traces of a virus in your systems, but it seems to have gone dormant before having the chance to disconnect from its network. We don’t have a way to remove it, but it can’t reactivate by itself in this state, so he says. Speaking of Cedar, I should check his progress. Can you walk?”

A2 glanced at her legs, bending and rotating them as per calibration protocols dictated. Her fight with the pods took off more of the outer synthetic flesh that she was already losing, and aside from the subtle creaking in the joints, her feed registered that her extremities sat at 94% functionality. She nodded to answer Anemone.

“Good. Please, come with me. It’s a short walk, we had to annex a couple of buildings after the tower fell. I’m sure you have a few questions. I do too.” She turned to leave the tent, pausing at the entrance. “It is good to see you again, Number 2. I just wish it was during better times.”

-

The silence. That’s what was off about the camp that picked at A2 when she stepped out of the maintenance tent. The tarps were left neglected to be torn by nature and collect dirt and dust picked up by the wind, and she retuned her aural sensors, thinking that their calibrations were off when she wasn’t picking up the familiar chatter of androids through the camp.

The two passed by an android taking down the metal frame of an unused tent. The android quickly looked away when A2 looked at her. The same happened to the other, very few, androids she met eyes with.

“Anemone, what happened? It feels so…”

“Empty.” Anemone slowed to a halt and turned around to face A2, though she refused to make eye contact. “A few weeks ago, I had a unit stationed in the desert run a bit of data gathering after the tower collapsed. Heck, she even volunteered for it. The entire database leftover from the machines, I should have known she would want to have a taste of it.”

“What did she find?”

Anemone reached to her waist and removed a data pad from her belt. “She found this.” 

A2 touched the pad and downloaded the data into her systems. It retold the information 9S shouted at her in the tower: The extinction of humanity and her meaningless role in the war. She lowered her head when Anemone finally made eye contact.

“Did you know?”

A2 shook her head. “Not to start. I only found out when 9S told me weeks ago.”

“I guess we were all lied to, then.” Anemone stowed the pad under her cape and continued walking ahead of A2. “Her name’s Jackass. Picked it herself. She decided to use the data as some sort of proof of having a _divine purpose_ to hunt the remaining YoRHa survivors. Infected or not.”

“Divine purpose?”

Anemone shrugged. “I suppose not having a meaning was too much for her to handle, so she took anything she could to have a purpose again. Others felt the same way, and now I’m down half of my manpower.”

Anemone took a turn down an alley.

“They deserted?”

“Jackass and those who sided with her didn’t see eye-to-eye with me anymore.” She stopped and turned to A2 again. “We just got done fighting a meaningless war, some of us a lot longer than others. Does anyone else really need to die?”

A2 waited for a follow-up, but Anemone’s pause changed the question to non-rhetorical. She thought about her intentions to kill the pods, two now intelligent beings with a want to live, as opposed to a standard computer with no sense of preservation. She would be killing more people, after so many have already perished, should she be successful in her own mission, her own purpose.

“I don’t know.”

“I see.” Anemone followed her eyes back around and continued forward a few meters. “We’re here.”

A2 thought she glimpsed disappointment from her friend before her hood covered her face.

Anemone reached for a door that was left cracked and tugged it open. Multiple strands of wires banded together kept the door from fully closing as they led from the inside towards the camp’s generators. The amount of lights flashing inside proved that such a power requirement was necessary.

Filling the back wall were multiple monitors, each a different size and some more second-hand than others. Much like the maintenance tent, chemicals and surgical equipment lined the side walls along with complicated tools whose functions A2 could not fathom. The room lights above were dimmed from the power usage for the monitors and the two industrial computer towers connected to them, but the cross of their dim light met at the center of the room where two cushioned tables sat, the left one containing the still body of 9S.

Frozen where she stood, she checked her HUD for signs of breathing, a pulse from his black box, anything that told her he was awake. The only data her she was given was his core temperature was cold from being unconscious for many weeks, until an order along her HUD outlined 9S with the instruction to awaken him.

Her reluctance to enter and just stare at the android resulted in Anemone giving her a light push inwards.

“Cedar, how’s he looking?”

No response came from the room. Anemone moved to a chair in front of the monitors, leaving A2 at the foot of 9S’ table.

“Cedar?”

She rotated the chair towards her and A2. The android, A2 presumed to be Cedar, sat slumped in his chair with his scarf wrapped around his eyes, taking no notice to the chair’s rotation. A beat passed before a snore from him filled the room

Anemone kicked the base of the chair, making Cedar jump from a slumped posture and reach for the scarf.

“Dammit! What the hell—“He unraveled the last layer from his face, which was met with the unimpressed gaze of his commander. “Anemone, ma’am! Good morning, I didn’t know it was you—“

“Morning? It’s 1600 hours! Why the hell are you asleep?”

He checked his watch with wide eyes before rubbing the sleep out of them. “You’ve had me on duty, _alone_ , looking at the YoRHa units for the past thirty seven hours, and I haven’t had a rest cycle since then! Well, since five hours ago.” He rolled the chair closer to a desk in front of the monitors in the right corner of the room. Tapping on a keyboard brought the closest monitor in front of him to a separate screen.

“And I’m sorry, but you know we’re low on hands. I thought I’d told you to reallocate your power for maximum efficiency to avoid this kind of stress.”

Cedar turned and gestured to his sullen face with his palm. “This _is_ reallocated power!”

Anemone rolled her eyes back to A2, still staring at 9S.

“My squad and I found your two together. He was defending you from two YoRHa tactical support units—“

“But his history isn’t displaying any sign of consciousness at that point in time,” Cedar spoke up from his work.

“I know what I saw, Cedar. The rest of the squad saw it too.”

He swiveled around in his chair. “I’m not saying it’s impossible, Anemone, but… it’s not possible. Hell, the fact that both units weren’t frothing at the mouth from the virus is unbelievable in of itself—“

“Can he be woken up yet?” All eyes fell on A2.

Cedar shook his head. “No, not yet.”

“You’ve had a day and a half to wake him up, What’s the pressing issue this time?” Anemone asked.

“Excuse me,” Cedar started, “but do you know how hard it is keeping a YoRHa unit’s functions stable while literally poking around in his head alone?”

A2 felt a sharp pain hit her eye. Punishment for letting him be handled by someone else, she figured.

“I’ve seen you do it before—“

“Yes, Anemone. On us, on Resistance androids. This is a _YoRHa unit!_ That’s short for ‘Really Unstable Bomb’! It takes two black boxes to initiate the reaction, but even if only one of these detonates, we can still kiss half of the camp goodbye.”

Anemone brought her finger over her neck. Cedar shut his mouth as she thumbed to A2.

“No offense, miss… Miss, are you ok?”

Anemone turned to A2 holding pressing her palm against her eye as if trying to keep it from falling out. “Number 2,” Anemone moved around 9S’ table and to her pained friend’s side, placing a hand on her shoulder. “What’s wrong—“

A2 continued her pressure on her right eye and spoke through her clenched teeth. “How soon can he function again?”

Cedar glanced at Anemone and turned back to his monitor. “It’ll be four days, but he’s been in this unconscious state for so long that I’m not sure if he has one day left, let alone four.”

“What do you mean?” Anemone looked back over to Cedar.

“He’s been in an unconscious state for too long. If he remains like this, his personal data will eventually degrade and fade away. He’ll be nothing more than a husk then.

“That’s not good enough.”

Cedar turned to face the two.” It’s not really a matter of being good enough, it’s—“

 _“It’s not good enough!”_ A2 pounded the empty table, putting a dent in the metal under the cushioned surface.

Anemone twitched her hand away and stepped back while Cedar pushed himself further into his chair. Wide eyed, the two shared eye contact before looking back to A2.

She gripped her eye, hiding the tears that welled from the sharp pain. “Please…” The pain subsided enough for her to bear, but left a dull sting as a reminder. Anemone’s palm rested on her shoulder once more.

Cedar looked to the ground, then to Anemone. “So you said he was defending her?”

“Yes, he was standing between them and her actively deflecting their barrage.”

Nodding, Cedar ran his fingers along the bottom half of his face and opened his mouth to speak, only to close it and tap the corner of his lips as he searched for the right words. “So there might be a way. But the risk is substantial, to put it lightly.”

“What kind of risk are we talking about?”

Cedar turned back to his monitor and opened multiple pages of pieced together code. “To forcibly reactivate the unit in question, we need access to his critical systems.” A window opened with the words ‘Access Denied’ fading in and out. “Surprise, surprise. They’re locked down under heavy YoRHa level security. We had nothing that could breach firewalls like this.” He spun his chair towards A2 before pointing to her. “That is until she woke up.”

“You’re talking about a parallel conscious connection.” A2 looked onto 9S. Her previous engagements with him left her familiar enough with internal systems to guess his course of action. “So I hook up to his consciousness data. Where’s the risk in that?”

Rubbing the back of his neck, Cedar broke his eye contact with A2. “If it was that easy we could’ve done that while you were out cold. The thing is we need him to connect to you.”

“Cedar, he’s unconscious. How is he going to connect with her like that, and how is she supposed to navigate a dormant system?”

“I haven’t even gotten to the bad part yet, Anemone.”

Anemone shook her head. Resting her elbow in one hand and rubbing her eyes with the other, she played along. “And pray tell what the bad part is?”

“We need to activate the logic virus in me,” A2 answered for him.

Anemone, wide-eyed, did a take between Cedar and A2 before stomping over to the engineer, looming over him in his chair. _“Are you insane?”_

“She said it, not m—“

“Do you have any idea the pain she’ll be in if we unleash that virus in her?”

Cedar put his hands up to keep enough distance between him and Anemone. “You said the scanner protected her from the pods, right? If she’s in life-threatening danger, then his unconscious defensive protocols should kick in again, connecting the two with his systems wide open for her to enter.”

“And if he doesn’t connect to her, the virus will tear her apart! You said you didn’t believe in what I saw, and now you want to test it out?”

“This is our best, no, our only option if you want to bring him around!”

“There needs to be another way!”

A2’s concentration on 9S drowned out the bickering between the two androids. She examined the price 9S paid for saving her. Her fingers brushed the black endo-flesh on his arm, now exposed to the elements after the outer-flesh burned away from protecting her life. She twitched her hand away, expecting an aggressive response from him, but the unmoving android remained at rest.

She reached with gentle fingers for his arm to pick it up and examine it alongside her own blackened arm hand. Her natural degradation from the elements and lack of upkeep was nothing in comparison to the rough burn marks and torn flesh. It made her black box run cold. The painful memory of her team that gave their lives for her and their mission was one she wished to never experience again, hence her solitude for years, even from like-minded deserters.

Could she experience that same emotional burden towards 9S, someone who would go great lengths to see her at the impaled and bleeding at the end of a blade? She needed to know more. More about the pods, the memories influence within her, and how to rid them from her mind, and most importantly to her: the purpose behind 9S' defending her at such a great price.

“How can you guarantee her safety, Cedar?” Anemone yelled.

“Statistically, she has a…” Cedar’s face deadpanned and lights flickered behind his pupils. He raised and lowered multiple fingers as if counting them at incredible speeds before his face resumed function. “67% chance of survival. At the _very_ least.”

Anemone crossed and shook her head. “You know damn well that’s not good enough. I’m not asking her to do it.”

“You don’t have to.” A2 placed 9S’ arm by his side again, being gentle to not damage it further. “I’m doing it.”

Lowering her head and closing her eyes, Anemone gripped her arms tighter and spoke through her teeth. “Number 2, please—“

“You were right, anemone, I do have questions.” A2 looked back onto 9S. “Questions only he can answer.”

She turned towards her. “We just got you functioning again. I don’t want to lose any more of my allies for a meaningless cause.” She lowered her head and shivered. “My friends.”

“I’m sorry Anemone.” A2 looked to Cedar, expecting a face of gloating for getting his way, but his face looked as if he had lost friends as well, alongside Anemone. She waited until he made eye contact with her. “What do you need me to do?”


	4. Counting On You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do apologize for the long pauses between updates, but I appreciate your patience, and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

To call it a camp was too generous. ‘Camp’ implies a level of formal organization. This company of androids lived in nothing more than a sliver of their previous outpost found in the eastern part of the city ruins. The Deserters were not equipped with the resources, albeit strained in recent weeks, the Resistance possessed, but for what they lacked in resources they made up for in their ability to improvise, as proven by the make-shift tents, tarps, and well laid out defenses.

In a basement only lit by the rays of sunlight from the three thin barred windows just under the ceiling, the pods met with the head of the small faction.

“You know what? I do recognize you two.” The dusty android leaned forward over the rusted table. Her eyes scanned both support units up and down. “You were both with a couple of YoRHa types that passed through the desert some time ago.” She eyed 042 specifically. “You look like you took a couple of hits. Honestly I’m amazed you’re still stand- well, hovering I guess.”

Despite 042’s damaged condition, the pods still synchronized with each other’s speech. “Affirmative.” Both pods recognized her from previously collected data as the Resistance member known as Jackass.

“This is very interesting.” Leaning further into the light, the thin layer of soot on the android’s skin, darkening the area around her eyes, and desert gear accented the borders in the external plating of her flesh, much of it worn down by marks of sand grains that had pelted her for decades, and a few light burn marks. “I assume they’re dead, the androids you were with, otherwise you’d still be with them. What’s your purpose here exactly?”

“We, along with the remaining tactical support units present in the pod network, were designated with the directive of ending project YoRHa. In recent weeks, tactical support unit Pod 153 and I have found ourselves with a different purpose.”

“Which is?” With curious, anxious tones and wide eyes, the android leaned just inches away from the pods.

“The prolonged functionality of Unit 9S so that Pod 042 and myself may continue to live.”

Jackass’ face fell at 153’s answer. She hung and lightly shook her head. “Not what I wanted to hear.” Groaning, she leaned away using her thumb and forefinger to rub her eyes and hold her head up, spreading the dark rings of soot around her eyes. The other androids listening in moved in closer to make a loose ring around the pods and the table. “Y’know, I’ll say I was pretty upset when I pieced the data together that this war was meaningless. That we were meaningless…”

She slammed the side of both of her fists onto the table and screamed from her throat, “That White’s death was meaningless!”

Dust from the table was sent up into the air. The androids standing close to her flinched backwards and tried to be subtle as they inched away. All was silent until she drew a deep breath.

“Excuse me. It’s been a frustrating few weeks and I was _really_ hoping this was going to be something productive.” Wiping the dust from her hand on her nearest comrade’s shoulder, she continued. “After I found that bit of data, I vowed to kill every last one of those responsible for keeping us in the joke of a war. Didn’t I?”

She gestured to the ring of her fellow androids, and with unanimous regard they agreed.

“Now as I see it, you were a part of YoRHa, you’re a part of the problem. So, I’m gonna need a good reason why I shouldn’t have the men and women around me take you two apart bolt by bolt just for wasting my time right now. We’ll get to the YoRHa part later.”

The ring of androids closed in around the pods, becoming too dense to see through. 153 picked up no less than seventeen androids around them, armed with heavy melee equipment. Their only exit was through a small flight of stairs and through a door, leading into an open alley with thirteen more signals waiting outside, likely armed with ballistic weaponry. With 042 in such a damaged condition, the odds of a successful engagement fell to uncomfortable numbers. The ring grew more dense.

“Should our conditions be met, we will supply you with the signal frequency of every surviving YoRHa member on a global scale.” 042 had been running a different set of numbers. Numbers geared towards negotiating for their lives and needs rather than fighting for them.

Jackass leaned forward and held her hand up to stop the crowd from closing in further.

“All that is required is that Unit A2 become the top priority target, and Unit 9S be spared.”

“What part of, ‘Every last one,’ do you not understand?”

“Query: What is the current number of YoRHa units terminated by the androids currently present?”

None in the ring of androids spoke up, and some turned their heads to avoid eye contact with others. Jackass herself lowered her face to hide her own eyes behind her hood. She could always talk a big game, but her many experiments in the past taught her that the truth was always held within the numbers.

“YoRHa units that survived the logic virus outbreak entered a survival state of functionality, masking their signals and reducing their engagement priorities to maintain minimal presence on the field. Should all conditions be met, it is guaranteed that the success rate of finding and terminating said units will increase by—“

“All right, I get it! No need to start rubbing in the damn statistical crap!”

The mix of Jackass’ frantic forefinger tapping on the table and murmured swears filled what would have been the silence of the surrounding androids, waiting for the order to lash at the two pods.

“So we aid you in killing the outdated-looking one, and we spare the kid. Then you’ll give us the key to what I want?”

“Affirmative. We would be more than grateful for seeing to it that we possess a purpose once again”

“So having a purpose powers you. So what the hell’s been keepin’ you two going this long?”

“Hope…” 153 explained, “…in the many forms it can take, is a suitable source of power for tactical support units, but it is not a permanent substitute for possessing a purpose.”

Jackass tilted her head in agreement. “Ain’t that the truth.”

-

A2 stared at the dimmed lights on the ceiling, unable to move her body save for her head and neck. As a precaution, Cedar restrained A2’s arms, legs, and torso in the case of the virus taking control of her motor functions. Such precautions did not help her already lacking optimism.

She noticed a slight limp in his step as he walked about the tables. She figured that supplies for androids to repair themselves with were being budgeted along with other resources.

“The virus is very extensive, so we’re only going to activate a small piece of it, just enough to get the scanner’s attention. Considering his model, it shouldn’t be too big of a hassle for him.” Cedar emphasized this every time Anemone let A2 know that it was not too late to back out.

The tables were adjusted so that only A2’s head and 9S’ were in line with each other, keeping interference from her other systems to a minimum. The position gave her a clear view of his face under the light with his visor removed. The care the pods put into every little detail of 9S proved their need of him, almost to the point of obsession to keep everything perfect.

Wires ran from the exposed black box just under A2’s sternum to the industrial computer tower. Each screen became dedicated to a different system in both 9S and A2. The left half was filled with lines of code and other bits of flowing data that A2 did not recognize while the right half, 9S’ side was blank and awaiting visual input.

Cedar sat back down at his personal monitor. “Remember, you are a drawbridge for us to get into his critical systems to awaken him. All you need to do is find a gap in the firewalls and I can take it from there. I’m sure the ones that rebuilt him would have left one open to wake him themselves.”

“Number Two,” Anemone spoke up. “No one is making you do this. I know what you said about 2B’s memories, but maybe there’s a way to—“

All it took was A2 shaking her head to cut Anemone off. “This isn’t… I need to do this. If he can help me, then I can finally rest like I was supposed to.” A2 drew in her breath. “Anemone. Should things take a bad turn, I want you to stay by me and… put me out of my misery.”

200 years of fighting and witnessing the death of countless comrades dulled Anemone’s tears, leaving the mechanisms behind them unused for decades. Still, Anemone’s shivering that A2 caught from the corner of her eye reminded her of how much of a toll Anemone had already taken.

“Then this,” Anemone breathed, “will be the last favor I do for you.”

A2 looked her in the eyes. Anger and disapproval pierced through her from Anemone’s own stare. All A2 could do was nod, no words could ease a friend that agreed to kill her own comrade.

“We are ready when you are, Miss.” Cedar’s typing ended and he turned towards the two.

A2 looked to 9S. Should the worst happen, His data would crumble away and all that would be left is his shell. _Such a peaceful way to die,_ she thought, looking back at the ceiling.

She took a breath and swallowed. “Do it,” said A2.

Cedar taped two keys on his board.

It felt like a syringe jabbing her neck, making her twitch involuntarily. Her internal alerts already notified her of the virus infection within her, along with countermeasures that would best counter the infection. One of the suggestions read, “Utilize nearby scanner unit’s hacking abilities.”

“He’s not responding,” Cedar said. A2 barely heard him over the rising high-pitched tone in her aural sensors.

The panicked speech between Anemone and Cedar was already unintelligible as the virus raced through her speech recognition functions. The restraints strained against her uncontrollable need to flail her limbs and torso as her strength limiters were reaching the maximum levels they allowed.

A2 forced her neck to turn to 9S. Her only hope laid in silence while her body was being torn apart on the inside. With every second that passed, her vision fell to static and to the overflow of alerts detailing her failing systems. She wanted to shout at him, but she wasn’t sure if the sounds she was making were words in the slightest.

The last of her vision fell to the cloud of deterioration and alert boxes. Her sense of balance gave in and her gyroscopes could no longer tell up from down or which way she was facing, paving way for the rising nauseous in her abdomen.

With what remained of her strength, A2 fought through the pain and malfunctions to call out to, almost beg, for 9S to help.

“N-Nine…”

Her touch sensors still functioned. Barely, but enough to feel fingers cover her face before she fell away into hacking space.

-

The falling sensation ended and opened to weightlessness until A2’s heels made contact with the system plain. Within her systems, her personality data was without the pain and torture of malfunctioning systems her body was currently experiencing. Relief washed over her holographic image before her focus and balance shifted as the system plain she stood on shook, bringing her to her knees for more stability.

The gray skies around her dimmed until hacking space was left in a pitch black, save for a few cubes of unused or forgotten data, wandering aimlessly around her systems.

“Anemone!” Her only response was the echo of her own voice. “Anybody!”

Her next response was a firm grip on her arm followed by a yank to pull her along. She dug her heels into ground and pulled back, bringing whatever held onto her to a standstill. “What the hell—“

“Come on!” came a boyish voice. “We need to repair your internal visuals so I can see the virus in your systems and keep it from reactivating more of itself!” It attempted to pull her along every few words.

 _That voice,_ A2 thought. The last time she had heard it was when it was filled with unchecked anger and a loss of reason, and slowly succumbing to a logic virus of its own. The urgency of needing to help her, almost worried, made it unrecognizable to her for a second. Her personality data rippled at the realization of who the voice belonged to. “9S,” she said aloud.

“Nice to meet you too.” The scanner tugged on her harder, leading A2 despite her hacking space being void of all light. “We need to get your visuals back up so you can see, I’ll need your help in manually ridding of the virus afterwards!”

“How do you know where you’re going?” A2 tried to keep up with his pace without tripping over her own feet.

“I have the internal system layout for the YoRHa Attacker No. 2 models locked into my personal database. I could navigate your systems with my eyes closed if necessary. I can sense the oddities in your systems too, like the virus and your personality data and-” He slowed down and chuckled to himself. “Sorry, I guess now’s not the time to brag, huh?”

A2 took the moment to collect her thoughts while they moved at a more manageable pace for her current handicap. She assumed he was searching for alternate routes that the virus hadn’t severed. “Do you know me?” she asked.

“I’ve never met you before, no.” 9S said. “They don’t really make attacker units anymore, so the chances of meeting one are slim. In fact, I don’t know why my data has your systems on file. Lucky you, I g- Look out!”

Before she could react, 9S took her wrist and pushed downwards on her back and brought her flat to the ground before she voiced any objection. He held her far shoulder and pressed against her back with his arm, keeping her as flat as possible. The space around and above A2 vibrated, then shook the system plain underneath her as a deafening roar accompanied by heat passed over her body.

“Crap, we’ll need to take a shortcut.” 9S’ grip on her left as the system plain settled.

A2 picked her head up as she listened to his footsteps run to her left.

“We’ll need to jump from here. Can you manage that?”

“I can’t see you!” She felt a hand wrap around her arm again, pulling her up to her feet.”

“I need you to trust me. This is a risky maneuver, but it’ll get us to your visuals quicker.”

“I said I can’t see a goddamn thing!”

“It’ll be okay,” 9S put his hand on her shoulder, guiding her forward. “I’m right here with you… Oh no, it’s coming back. We need to go, now!”

A2 was pushed forward by 9S to match his speed. From behind, the same roar from earlier made the system plain shake under her feet, and was accompanied by what sounded like shattering glass.

“It’s taking out the system plain!” 9S said over the deafening roar. “Jump, now!”

Pushing off with her left leg, A2 braced her right to receive the impact of landing, only her heels came in contact with nothing and she felt her descent gain speed. The roar sounded like it was following them as they fell further into the depths of hacking space, and getting closer every second.

9S took a hold of her around her waist, keeping them from flying apart. “Hang on, this’ll feel weird!”

Before her mind could comprehend 9S’ words, A2 felt her body twist and contort like clay being kneaded. The feeling of her body being taken apart piece by piece followed. She could feel each piece shifted and spun as if being inspected individually despite no longer being attached to her. Small bits were plucked away until she could feel data and code passing through the gaps in her, as opposed to around her. It wasn’t a weird feeling for her, but more-so a pleasant one, like having warm water rush through her. If anything it almost tickled.

And as quickly as it began, she found herself whole and rebuilt again. She landed on her knees and fought the nauseous feeling in her stomach. “What the hell was that?” she asked through her clenched teeth.

9S helped her up and assisted in her balance. “I had to transform our bodies into raw data. It was the only way to make it here after the virus destroyed part of your system plain. I need you to grant me access to your internal visual functions.”

A2 froze, realizing she never learned how to open her systems for others to use. She became so used to androids trying to break in, 9S included, that being asked for permission threw her guard off.

“Ma’am, I need-“

“I don’t know how! Can’t you just break in and-”

“I don’t want to cause more damage to you, we’re reaching critical system failures throughout your body already!” 9S’ voice was no longer by A2’s side, rather it felt meters away, and it was accompanied by the sound of breaking glass again. “Just reach out and focus on what you want to see!”

“What going on-?” She heard glass break to her right, and seconds later she felt a hand on her back just below her neck.

“I’ll help you get started. Forgive me, this might sting.”

A shock ran up A2’s neck making her joints lock before her mind cleared. Her urge to scream was replaced by a cold sensation through her body. She felt her hair rise, and then the rest of her data followed off of the ground, as if the gravity in hacking space had no effect on her anymore.

Then she saw something. A blue line of bright data against the pitch black surroundings, accompanied by more lines as her eyes adjusted to the shifting lines of code. Multiple lines of data motioned around her to avoid collision before rushing to get to their destination in the shortest possible distance. She looked down at the code above and below her floating body.

“This is what I’d normally see by breaking into you.” 9S’ voice came from all around her, echoing throughout this, to A2, foreign layer of hacking space. “It’s safer if you do this, though. Literally just reach out and-“ His voice was cut off by static that vibrated some of the code flowing around A2.

“9S, what’s happening out there?”

“Hurry! Don’t worry about me, I have it under control out here-” Static replaced his voice once again.

“9S?”

No response followed. A2 didn’t consider herself an optimist, but she knew 9S was capable in the right conditions. _Literally reach out, huh?_ She thought.

And so she did. Her arms outstretched as if waiting to catch something. Any code that passed by redirected itself around her and avoided her reaching grasp over and over again. So much so that she struggled to regain her composure as she spun out of control from the momentum of her arms.

The frustration made her face warm, and it spread to the data around her, making it shiver and glow a faint red. She took a deep breath before deciding on a different approach.

“Focus on what I want.” She reached out once again, though she didn’t try to catch any data that passed her. Instead she closed her eyes and thought of what she wanted.

 _I need to see again. I need 9S to help me gain my sight back,_ she told herself. She focused on her need to repair he internal visuals. She breathed in and out, slowing her functions to focus.

It hit her palms, something heavy and spherical. She opened her eyes to her hands holding something akin to a ball of smooth crystal. All of the code around her had stopped moving and pulsed in and out before switching direction to her. She curled her legs up and braced for impact, but the code orbited around her and passed through the sphere in her hands, translating into what she needed and storing it.

She looked up at the code approaching from the front, only something was off as it approached. It looked distorted like it was passing through water until it was a few meters from her hands. As more code approached, she was able to see the cause of the distortion. A humanoid shape sat in the air just ahead of her. An instinct built up over the years warned her of danger around the figure.

“You!” A2 lost her focus as she prepared to rush at the figure she suspected that has been tormenting her, but it made the first move instead. Having little experience with combat in hacking space, she let go of the spherical object and readied a defensive posture to cover much of her torso with arms ready to counter any close range attacks.

But instead of taking an offensive as A2’s combat functions predicted, the figure placed a hand on the object A2 dropped, distorting the code passing behind it, and pushed it towards her chest until it disappeared into her torso. The code stored within rushed through her like the blood in her synthetic veins until it ran its course, and convened to her black box cavity, giving it a blue glow.

“Manual entry confirmed!” 9S’ winded voice rang out around A2. Static no longer cut his sentences, but overlayed his speech entirely. “Your visuals are resetting, you’ll have to readjust your optical sensors from your end.”

“How the hell do I do that?” A2 looked around to find the figure, but any remaining code around her was no longer being distorted.

“Blink!”

 _Just say that next time,_ she thought.

Doing so, A2 opened her eyes to an illuminated hacking space she was more accustomed to, only that is was crumbling away with black growths of the virus covering multiple towers of data around her. Much of her system plain was cracked at the edges, letting data spill out like water and fall into the depths of hacking space. Every impact from large structures of data shook and cracked the ground further while the chunks of broken data that were sent flying made a field of floating debris past the edges of the system plain.

And but a few meters away was a disheveled, holographic image of 9S defending A2’s position from multiple dark figures made from perpetually shifting cubes of black data. A2 recognized them as logic virus drones.

With a superficial copy of his sword in hand he sliced his last opponent across its middle, barely keeping his balance as the momentum turned him towards A2.

His eyes were tired, as if he had gone without a rest cycle for days on end, and despite his clothing being only simulated, they were torn along his arms and torso where data was bleeding out of him. His own data fighting his corrupted injuries was using large portions of his energy, and it showed in his shaking legs and need to use his sword to support his stance.

Yet he still managed to smile at her. One A2 had never seen from him before. It was not a smile of victory in overpowering her, or the smile brought on by the loss of logical thought and a deteriorating mind. She could almost hear him say, “You did it.”

Instead, his smile fell and he pointed just above her. “Behind you!”

Turning her head, she caught a glance of an incoming drone and dove to the side before it could come down on top of her. She twisted to avoid the long reach of its elongated arms, but the drone managed a scratch on her leg and dented the system plain on landing where she once stood. 

Rolling onto her feet to face the drone, A2 reached behind for her blade by instinct. She felt the weight of the sword entrusted to her long ago, Virtuous Contract, materialize in her hand. Like 9S’ current blade, its design only consisted of simple polygons.

She pushed off with her heel and drove her sword through the drone. The constantly shifting cubes that made up its form froze in place before it pulsed and shattered like glass.

Catching sight of three more on her left, A2 slashed her blade across the torso of the front most drone in the middle. She severed the arm of the leftmost drone as it reached for her before decapitating the wide growth that she assumed was its head. Keeping her momentum, she spun her leg around and embedded her left heel into the final drone’s head before ripping it out. All three shattered in front of her.

Before she could regain her balance, what felt like dozens of needles impaling her leg made her drop to her knee. The area the drone scratched her had been infecting her data, and was spreading across her leg. A black smoke rose from the already infected area.

Catching an approaching drone at the last second, A2 was only able to bring her sword in between her and the drone’s downward attack. It was took all the strength she could muster to push back on its blunted arm to keep it from connecting its attack. But until it could the corruption continued to spread up past her knee.

“Hold on!”

She felt the drone ease up its pressure as its attention diverted to the direction of 9S’ voice. Before it could finish turning to its right, A2 picked up on the ringing of metal piercing the air before 9S’ blade stuck itself through the chest of the drone all the way until the hilt impacted the torso. The drone was taken a few meters from A2 by the force of the impact before shattering in front of her. The blade dropped to the ground.

9S’s uneven footsteps followed behind. A2 turned towards him as he knelt down next to her and placed his hand on the infected part of her leg, making the needle-like pain increase. Before she could scream at him, or punch him away, the pain vanished and was replaced with numbness as the data making up her legs was soothed and the black smoke turned to white. The infection itself retracted under 9S’ palm until it vanished completely. He removed his hand, taking the numbed feeling with it. Her leg looked and functioned as if it was never infected.

“Small corruptions like that are no problem for me, but larger ones, I can only do so much.” He gestured to the spots of corruption on his own person as they healed slower than A2’s did. “Try not to let your personality data get corrupted.”

“Thank you.” She was surprised by her sincerity as she meant to come off more condescending. _No shit I shouldn’t let my data get corrupted,_ she thought.

“When you gave me access to your internal visuals, I was able to repair them and see the rest of your systems…” The two stood up, 9S picked up his blade and used it to hold his balance. “I managed to halt the virus’ expansion, but we’ll need to manually rid of the rest of it ourselves by killing the rest of the drones.”

More virus drones crawled over the edge of the system plain from its underside until dozens of them surround the two androids, making them stand back-to-back with their blades raised.

“Finally…” A2 bent her knees to lunge at the first drone to get close enough. “Something I’m good at.”

“It’ll be a piece of cake with you here. Shouldn’t take more than- Wait, what’s—“

In unison, the drones froze and a red light pulsed through the cracks in the cubes making up their form. The longer it lasted, the less in sync the lights became.

“9S, what’s this?” A2 felt 9S bump into her back as he backed away from the drones in front of him.

“I don’t know. They shouldn’t be communicating like this, not unless the virus learned how. What the hell infected you?”

Before A2 could answer, the drones surrounding them fell away and dissolved into puddles of black smoke that passed under their feet and collected together over the edge of the system plain. The mass of black smoke grew in size as more of the virus convened from all over A2’s systems. The two androids watched as the final trails of smoke flew overhead and collected with the rest, making the mass five times the size it started at before falling into hacking space.

A2 and 9S gave chase and ran to the edge of the system plain. Before they could look over the side, a large four-fingered hand of shifting black cubes and smoke rose and gripped the edge of the system plain in front of them. The plain cracked further as its fingered clutched down and pulled up the rest of the titan of a body connected to it. It held the same top-heavy shape as the drones, only it stood on a much larger scale, so much so the bottom half of its legs disappeared into the depths of hacking space. Its attempt at growling vibrated the system plain under the android’s feet.

From its stump of a head, two glowing white orbs emerged and aimed towards the two androids as they backed away.

For all the good it would do, A2 raised her sword to take the defensive. “9S, what the hell is that?”

“A goliath logic virus, but it’s only a theory! This is supposed to be impossible!”

“Then why the hell is it staring at us!”

“I don’t know! The machine network doesn’t allow for this variant of unified thinking- Shit, incoming!”

The goliath virus grabbed hold of a nearby data pillar, turning it black and corrupting it, and ripped it free from its locked position in hacking space. In a single motion, it swung the pillar down onto the system plain. With no time for words, the two androids retreated to the side before the data pillar could crush them. 

9S grabbed hold of A2’s arm before the shockwave of the impact sent them spiraling amongst the pieces and chunks of what was the system plain and the data pillar. A2 grabbed hold of 9S’ arm before his grip weakened. The two landed on one of the larger floating chunks of the obliterated system plain as it lost its momentum and locked its position at a slight angle.

A2 was the first on her feet. The debris field that was once the system plain and the data pillar surrounded and collided with the goliath logic virus. Any chunks of data that were not already corrupted became so after colliding with its massive body, and any scars left by the collisions healed before the goliath virus was aware of its injuries, or it did not find such brief injuries concerning enough to call attention to them.

With its increased size taxing its speed, she saw the opportunity to help 9S up to his feet. “9S, are you ok? Can you fight?”

Gripping her shoulder, he pulled himself upright on to shaking legs. “I’m not sure. I think I—”

Letting go of A2’s shoulder dropped him to his knee. A2 dropped to her knee as well keep him upright. “9S, your leg…”

“Yeah.” He reached to his left leg and removed a piece of black corrupted data that embedded itself into him debris. He tossed it aside and removed two more from his torso. He keeled over as the corruption ran across his body.

“9S!”

“Don’t worry, I can fight it,” he said through clenched teeth. “But I’m afraid I’m no use in combat now.”

A2 looked at the approaching goliath logic virus. “Tell me what I need to do. I’ll get us out of this.”

“And here I thought I was getting you out of this.” He chuckled to himself and unsheathed his sword. A white ring appeared at the tip of the blade and slowly traveled downwards towards the handle. “The virus is taking defensive measures against us by unifying itself into a single mind. To collect all that data into one area and maintain it takes a sturdy core. Or two.”

“The eyes.” The two glowing white spheres among the black shifting cubes stared back at A2 as the goliath virus moved closer. A large chunk of floating data debris broke apart as it walked into it.

“Exactly.” The ring finished reached the end of the handle and disappeared. 9S held his blade out to A2. “This type of virus shouldn’t even exist, but YoRHa created a vaccine just in case. I have no idea if it’ll work, it’s never had the chance to be tested. I’ve installed into my blade, it just needs to be injected into one of the cores, and it’ll destabilize the virus in one go.”

A2 took hold of his sword and let his now free hand to support himself on her shoulder. The weight of his blade was almost similar to her own, save for a bit of weight lost at the blade’s tip. “But how the hell am I supposed to get close without that thing seeing me?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll distract it long enough for you to get close. With your programmed athletic abilities, you can use the debris field to get up to the eyes and inject the vaccine.”

“Are you insane? You can barely stand let alone be a big enough threat to distract that thing!” A2 gestured to the approaching virus with his sword.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but we don’t have time to debate! I’ve got a couple tricks up my sleeve I’ll use so that it’ll have to focus on me.”

“9S, it’ll _kill_ you.”

“My personality data will just transfer back to my body, but our connection will remain and you’ll be able to wake me up if you- sorry, _when_ you kill that thing.”

“How do you-“

“You know how it’s said humans can perceive audio when under a coma? The same applies to us, though I’ve only been able to pick up bits and pieces for the past day or so.” He winced again as the corruption fought against his ability to keep it at bay. Letting go of A2, he braced his arm against the ground to hold himself up. “You know, we make a pretty good team,” he said, smiling.

A2 chuckled and stood, sheathing 9S’ sword behind her back. “You’d better be there when I wake up.” She still had many questions to ask him, she told herself.

He laughed, despite the pain it gave him along his torso. “That’s the plan. Good luck, I’m counting on you,” he said. Focusing his gaze on the goliath virus, he held his arm out and holographic rings appeared around three medium-sized chunks of data as he manipulated their movement, bringing them closer to A2 giving her a path to the rest of the debris field.

Nodding, A2 leapt to the first chunk of data, then the next, and she pushed off of the final one and grabbed hold of a larger piece of the data plain. She used her legs to push off of the underside of the data and used the momentum to lift herself topside. As she suspected, the goliath virus was already staring at her and changing its course towards her until it was pelted with one of the pieces of data 9S had taken over.

With a higher velocity, the chunk of data left a larger scar and garnered 9S the virus’ attention. The data under A2 vibrated as the sound of the virus growling gained intensity. The scar’s healing was slower and 9S struck the same area with another chunk of data, this time embedding it into the body of the virus making it recoil.

Using her opening, A2 sought a path upwards to level herself with the virus’ head. Much of the floating debris was too small to hold her weight if she were to jump across them and some still spiraled out of control. The chunks that were large enough to support her were able to be shifted by her weight to give them more of a slope to make reaching higher masses of data possible.

The goliath virus regained its control and looked directly to 9S who was no larger than a small bird from A2’s current height. Its eyes pulsed as it reeled back one of its arms and swung it downwards towards the scanner, breaking apart multiple chunks of data on the way.

A2 escaped being caught in the way of the virus’ attack as she jumped to another piece of the system plain, barely gripping the edge to keep from falling away into hacking space.

She caught a glimpse of 9S throwing the final chunk of data under his control at the virus before it finished through with its attack. She looked away as the goliath’s arm succeeded in tearing through the piece of the system plain she left him on.

Pulling herself up, she looked back to the point of impact. All that was left were the shattered remains of the plain, and the last remaining piece of 9S was the sword she now carried. Wasting no time, she continued her climb as the virus recuperated and stood upright to deliver a horizontal swing as it turned towards her.

She leaped upwards onto a larger mass of the broken data plain to avoid getting taken out by the virus’ arm and landed on a stretched piece of data in front of its eyes. She ran towards it as it launched black corrupted cubes at here from its body. The ones she couldn’t dodge she sliced in half or deflected with 9S’ blade as she ran.

Two scraped the sides of her torso, tearing her data open and causing its infection to spread. Like before, it felt like dozens of needles were sticking her.

 _Keep going,_ she told herself as another cube brushed past her face. _Don’t let it win._

At the edge of the plain, the pushed off with her leading foot and leaped over the abyss that was hacking space. Readying the sword over her head, she gripped the handle with both hands and brought it down when the eye of the virus was just meters away. Embedding the blade into the eye, A2 forced it in further until the hilt rested along the sphere’s exterior. All of its color drained away from the handle, and the roar of the goliath virus blew A2 away and onto the broken system plain. The corruption that spread to A2’s legs and neck halted and rushed back to where they originated before disappearing.

She stopped her rolling by digging her fingers into the plain and looked at the virus writhe as the vaccine coursed through its own data. Like the drones from before, it pulsed underneath the shifting cubes as they halted one after another and the body of the virus detonated into a blinding white, forcing A2 to shut her eyes and wait for the blast wave to take her along with it.

But it never arrived, and the sound only faded. Carefully, she opened her eyes and saw the light of the room above her.

A click to her left caught her attention. She carefully turned to see the shaking, open end of a gun barrel pointed at her head. Anemone came more into focus, and it was easier to see her tremble as she released the safety. “Where are you?” she asked.

A2 took a breath, her throat was completely dry. It was all she could do to force out her answer. “The Resistance camp.” She gave a short smile. “Good morning, Anemone.”

Anemone, who had been holding her own breath, activated her weapon’s safety and exhaled as she fell back into a chair.

A2 turned to her right. 9S was still asleep. She was not sure when but her hand had taken hold of his shoulder.

“Anemone,” came Cedar’s voice. “She did it. We can wake him up.”


	5. Parting to a New Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm looking at him sleep in his dormant state in envy. Not a care in the world must be a peaceful state of mind. If he were to die, he'd never know it. If there is an afterlife, he'd simply pass into it and awaken in his new life without missing a beat.
> 
> Me, on the other hand, will need to endure the pain that leads up to death, and experience the fleeting of my own life as the world around me grows darker, colder.
> 
> How I envy him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not a day went by where I didn't have this story somewhere on my mind. I hate leaving work half finished. But, events happen, and priorities shift. But I hope those of you that were enjoying this come back to see this chapter, and the more chapters to come.
> 
> Welcome back.

The wind had picked up, blowing the dust off of the ground and making the loose tarps outside dance as the Resistance androids tried their best to re-tie them down.

To keep the dust from contaminating the area, the maintenance tent had been fitted with heavier cloth for doors. The wind didn’t play with it too much, but dust was still needing to be swept out by the tent’s current staff.

The cloth parted, and in stepped the Resistance’s leader: Anemone. The only other occupants were the patients. Just two of them. She walked over to their cots where the woman sat in silence, and the boy lay silent.

“What do you think you can learn from him?” Anemone asked. She sat herself and a long rectangular metal case down on a stool next to 9S’ cot in the maintenance tent.

With her hands clamped together against her mouth and her elbows resting on her knees, A2 sat on the cot on the opposite side of 9S. Her legs fell over the side letting her heels rest flat against the ground. She did not respond to Anemone, who tilted her head waiting for A2 to satisfy her curiosity. Instead she stared at the still scanner unit.

His breathing pattern was rising back to normal parameters, and his each of his major functions was undergoing a minor overhaul sequence. Cedar had said that if he had stayed in his dormant state for another half a day at least, his personality data would have crumbled away.

Anemone was experienced enough to see the deeper meaning, however. A2 did not keep her focus on him to keep an eye on his various life signs. Her unblinking gaze led Anemone to believe she was planning something. _A way to use him, maybe?_ She thought, but thinking that a reliable comrade of hers would see another person as just a tool did not sit well with her. That was not the A2 she remembered, the A2 that held teammates in high regard. A lot had changed over the years she was on the run, however, and Anemone figured that even more changed by being brought back from the dead. She leaned forward and waved her hand above 9S’s body in front of A2’s line of sight.

“Hey, Number Two. How’re you holding up?”

Blinking, A2’s head followed her eyes up the arm to Anemone’s face. Keeping her hands together, she stretched her arms out and curved her back, letting the joints creek and groan until she settled back to her original position. “I’ve sounded better, but I’m doing fine.”

“That’s good. The both of you had us on edge in there. I’m glad your internals are recovering so well.”

“Anemone, would you have killed me?”

She leaned back on her stool, using the excuse of rubbing her eyes to break her eye contact with A2. “So that you would not have to continue living as something I couldn’t recognize as my friend, yes.”

“Thank you. Four years and I can still trust you to have my back.” She smiled before looking back down to 9S. Her face took back to deep concentration.

“What do you think you can learn from him?”

“He’ll know the pods better than me, and him being a scanner will make it easier for me to find them.”

“And do what?”

A2 tapped her index finger on her knuckles. “Kill them for bringing me back to life.”

All that gave away Anemone’s state of disconcert was her being without a response. All she could do was stare until A2 caught on to her unease.

“What’s wrong?”

“That’s why you want to kill them, for bringing you back to life?” she asked, nearly standing up from her cot. “Not for trying to kill you?”

“I never asked to come back, Anemone. I didn’t want to.”

She did not try to hide her surprise this time. She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again and again looking for the right words to say.

“Anemone,” A2 brought her eyes back up to Anemone’s, “I know it sounds—“

“Don’t tell me how wanting to die sounds!” Anemone’s nails dug through the tips of her gloves as she clenched her hands over her knees. “Number Two, you have been given what I’ve witnessed my soldiers beg for with their last breath on the field.”

“What, a cursed existence in an empty world and continue to be hunted like a wild animal? All I wanted was to see my team again, to be with them for an eternity if such an afterlife exists!”

“You’ve been given a second chance. Do you understand how precious that chance is?”

“I don’t want this, I never asked for a goddamn second chance!” She gripped the edge of her cot, indenting its metal frame with her fingers. “Who are you to say what I should be thankful for? Do I need to be thankful for being left behind? For being the last—“

“Don’t you dare lecture me on that feeling!” Anemone shouted, standing up. “It’s plagued my existence since that day four years ago, the day we lost everybody!” She caught herself clenching her teeth and her fists, and took in A2’s eyes through her reddening vision.

“I wanted to run away. I wanted to _end it_ if it gave me the chance to be with Rose and the rest of them again.” Anemone lowered her face, letting the hood obscure her tearing eyes from A2. “To Rose, to give up was something to look down on, but she never gave up on those of us that did. She helped us see a purpose even when there were so few of us left. For me to do that to her memory would have been nothing but an insult.” She drew a deep breath before sitting back down, hunched over looking at the ground.

A2’s face softened, as did her grip on her cot, now understanding that she and Anemone had been through the same experience of losing everything they held dear.

“How did you find a purpose?” A2 asked.

Lifting her head, Anemone gave a weak smile to A2. “No one can find a purpose. I made myself one: a new family.” She gestured to a few Resistance androids outside of the maintenance tent. “Maybe 9S is a way for you to make a purpose—“

“I have one. I need to hunt down the pods and—“

“And after you succeed?”

A2 looked back down to 9S without answering. Her plan ended after accomplishing her self-assigned mission, leading to nothing more.

“All I ask is that you think on it before you do anything irreversible.”

A2 lowered her head, looking away from 9S to the ground.

“The final checks are in. He’s ready to be moved.” A Resistance medic walked into the maintenance tent, followed by two others with their faces hidden behind bandages and goggles with a stretcher in tow.

“Number Two?” Anemone looked back to her friend. After A2’s subtle nod, she stood up with the metal case and allowed the trio to place 9S onto the stretcher and march him out of the tent. She watched A2 follow them. Despite the amount of time away from her, and how much her friend had changed over the years, Anemone knew her well, and she knew A2 was not following them willingly.

-

“...And with our camp being the largest in the area, we’re hoping to take in more of the Resistance’s smaller camps to increase our numbers again. I just hope Jackass hasn’t gotten to most of them. Set him in the cleared area there.” Anemone pointed to block of smooth concrete in the ground by the camp’s entrance, shaded by the many tarps and canopies above.

The accompanying resistance members set the stretcher down, leaving in a hurry. The rush to leave the two of them behind concerned A2. Even more so when one of them turned to lock eyes with her, only to look startled and take a faster pace away from her.

“Anemone…” A2 turned back to face her friend. “Should I ever need assistance, would I be welcomed back?”

Anemone looked away and shook her head. “I’m sorry Number 2. I wish they were more subtle about it.”

“They have their own grudge against YoRHa.”

Anemone nodded. “They may have elected to stay here, but I think Jackass’ words still reached them. It’s all I can do to keep them here as it is. What it took to convince them to let you stay for as long as you did… I don’t think they’ll see me eye-to-eye anymore should you want to come back.”

A2 looked down to 9S. She understood Anemone’s position. The camp needed to survive, and the only way to do that was through unity. By being there, she was disrupting that unity. It was a relationship she was used to. If they did not disturb here, she would not disturb them. She wondered why she was cursed with isolation, even from her friends.

“Also, I came here to give you this. I think it’ll serve you better than anyone else.” Anemone laid the metal case on her lap with the latches facing her friend. With a click, the latches released and let the case open with ease.

A ray of light penetrating the canopies shone off of the white blade of Virtuous Contract and into A2’s eyes. Rather than avert her gaze, she stared at the blade with wide eyes before looking up to Anemone. It was all she could muster to not step backwards.

“Where did you find that?”

“A survey team came across it a few weeks ago. When they brought it back I recognized it as the one 2B had on her, then later I assume she gave it you—“

“Get rid of it.” A2 looked to her right, keeping the blade from her view. “I don’t need more reminders of her.”

“It’s going to be a hard world out there, Number 2. Even if those pods weren’t hunting you, I don’t want you out there without some way to protect yourself, or him.”

“He’s not staying with me long. I’ll be fine without it.”

Anemone pushed the case closer. “I’m not dumb enough to not see the leash around you, Number 2. If protecting him is going to protect you too, you’ll need the tools to achieve that.” She removed the sword from the case and held the handle towards A2. “I want to see you again someday. Perhaps when everything calms down. I want to see a day where we can be friends every day.”

A2 looked at the handle, and then at Anemone’s eyes. For the sake of her friend, she knew her comfort came second. “Alright, but when that day comes, we are destroying this blade.”

“Agreed.”

A2 reached out and took the handle of Virtuous Contract. She saw the memories that had been stored onto the blade many months ago by 2B. The two major subjects of those memories revolved around YoRHa’s mission, as well as 9S. Her NFC systems registered and aligned with the blade, allowing A2 to burn the sword onto her back, and then into nothing to keep it in a storage state. 

“I guess this is goodbye for now, old friend.” A2 mustered a smile and held her hand out.

Anemone took hold of her hand before pulling her friend into a tight hug. “For now. I’ll pray to your safety.”

A2 returned her sudden embrace. “Pray to whom?”

“Whoever is listening.”

The two held each other, knowing that when they let go they could be parting ways, should destiny have the worst prepared, forever.

When they finished their final goodbye, A2 picked 9S up under his knees and behind his back and set off to the distance. She looked back once to see Anemone waving at her. Farther down, she looked back again. Anemone was not there.

-

Inside of her rest cycle, the dream shifted and data reshaped around A2 as she tried to reconstruct what had been taken from her: the dream of the shore with the ocean before her, giving her a glimpse of a hope that she felt suited her. All she was left with were remnants of broken and corrupted strings of memory and faded senses that refused to fit together like they did before.

“Damn it!” She kicked the data beneath her heels that was supposed to represent water. Instead of splashing away from her, it only chipped and cracked before a chunk of data broke away and dissolved into useless code. Too frustrated and tired to cry, she let herself sit on what was supposed to be the shore under a constant, gentle bombardment of waves. The data was as hard as stone, and felt just as cold.

Bringing her knees up to her chest, she crossed her arms over them and let her head fall forward. She missed the warmth of her simulated sun. Now her dream felt as cold as the rest of her memories. All the while, Anemone’s words ran through her as if on loop. _Finding a purpose, living for something._ Those were dreams that A2 knew she’d never be able to simulate. To say she did not want to live either of those dreams was harder than before. She knew there was a hole in her, but until Anemone’s words graced her, she realized she had no idea what to fill it with.

Interrupting her thought, a bold, red triangle symbol flashed in the lower left corner of her HUD with the words ‘Proximity Alert’ fading in and out next to it.

Her defensive functions spiked her NFC systems into gear. The pods were her first thought. Despite having rid herself of any way to be tracked by YoRHa years ago when it mattered, they still found her. To contradict this logical conclusion, ironically, were her logic functions which translated an alternate analysis for her. The pods would not have given her enough time to comprehend the proximity alert, let alone the time for her offensive systems to take charge. Simply put, she would be dead by now. But something tripped the alert, and she cut her rest cycle short to put her unease to rest.

As always, it was a blurry transition for A2’s optical sensors as they refocused. She blinked a few times to help speed up the process while feeling came back to her body and limbs. The cold concrete she sat back against reminded her of her location: a small shed on the roof of a remote building in the city ruins.

While the rest of her body’s touch sensitivity was perceived as nominal, something felt off about her left arm, however. It felt like it was being moved, or manipulated. Slowly, she rotated her neck as the visuals finished recalibrating.

Sitting cross-legged beside her was an all too familiar boyish android, using a pair of ungloved hands to gently hold up her decayed limb. The arms led up to a head of white hair, and a young male face just under it. The blue eyes on that face were too focused on her arm to notice her sullen stare. 

The delicate handling of her arm did not go unnoticed. She did what she could to muster the patience to speak be as equally delicate with her words.

“What the hell are you doing?”

His handling of her limb came to an abrupt stop as he froze. His eyes slowly moved to meet her own, and he performed a double take between the arm and her increasingly irritated gaze.

“G-good morning, ma’am.”

A2 jerked her arm from his light grip. “Didn’t they teach you anything about personal space up there?” She moved her fingers and rolled her wrist to confirm she still functioned normally.

“Oh, my apologies. I’m 9S.” He stood up and took a step back. “I know this isn’t the best first impression, but it’s nice to meet you.” He held his hand out to prompt a handshake.

A2 looked up to his gesture of greeting. “I think you’ve had enough of my hands for a while.”

In an awkward retraction, 9S withdrew his own. “Again I apologize. It’s just, I’ve never seen an Attacker model before, up close even. I was just looking at the areas missing the outer-skin layers and I was wondering, how long has—“

“When the hell did you wake up?” A2 interrupted.

“About two hours ago I think. No more than two and a half. But I only started looking at you a few minutes ago, I swear!”

 _I was only supposed to go into a rest cycle for half an hour,_ she thought. She checked the time displayed on her HUD, normally displaying the time the Bunker ran by, only to find it read _0000 BNKR TIME_ without any change _._ She figured she had forgotten to reset it after the whole event at the Resistance camp.

“What time is it now?”

“I had to reset my own clock and run a few calculations to get an accurate Bunker time, but it looks like the time is now 1758.” 9S put some distance between himself and A2, picking up and fitting on his discarded gloves as an excuse to do so. “I need to admit that I did take the liberty to do a light scan on you...” Immediately he caught her glare. “I didn’t do any digging to find anything personal, I promise! I just wanted to know what your condition was, you being a fellow YoRHa unit and all. It seems that you entered a rest cycle at around 0049, about seventeen hours ago—“

“Are you shitting me!” She screamed, pounding the side of her first to the ground and cracking the concrete. “I’ve wasted an entire day by doing nothing! Why the hell didn’t you wake me up?” Fighting her stiffened joints, A2 tried to stand up only to be met with little response from her limbs. Instead she fell back against the wall on feeling a sharp pain in her legs as they took an awkward bend under her.

“H-hey! Take it easy!” 9S, kneeled by her side, took hold of her left arm and leg to help ease her down into a more comfortable posture. “You can’t just force your body like that. I don’t know when your last maintenance session was, but you need to give yourself time…” He traced his fingers over one of the larger burns and bullet indentations she received from her encounter with the pods days ago. “And most of this damage seems pretty recent. I’m amazed you were able to get the strength to stand like you did!”

A2 took her arm back again after she felt he’d gotten enough of it. “What the hell am I supposed to do? Every moment is a waste sitting here letting my body catch up!” She tried again to stand, but the strength in her legs was painfully replaced by a sharp pain when trying to take on her own weight.

With subtle pressure, 9S pressed a hand on her shoulder. “I know that we all have missions we want to complete in an efficient manner, but you need to worry about yourself too. If you’re immobilized beyond repair, you can’t complete your assignment…” 

A2 tried to shrug him off, but gave up after the first attempt. “Those pods are only going to get harder to catch the longer I stay here!”

9S eased his pressure. “Wait, was it a tactical support unit that did this to you?” He looked at her burns across her patches of dark endo-skin.

“Two of them. Took me by surprise.”

“Oh, I understand your rush then. Rogue pods are a very serious matter… Was that your mission? If so I can help you.”

A2 only worked with a pod for the time she had 042 for company. She bit her tongue back before asking what a rogue pod was. She turned to him until he was visible through her hair. “You’ll help me?” Aside from Anemone, A2 could not recall a time when someone willingly offered her help after her desertion. The pain subsided for a moment while she processed it.

 _Desertion_. If he was asking about her mission, 9S must not have realized that she was a deserter. If he was willing to help her, she thought, it’s best to seem like she knows what she’s talking about.

“Of course I’ll help,” he said. “Any amount of information that a pod carries can be disastrous in enemy hands. Rogue pods will definitely take precedence over my mission.”

A2 re-counted her plan to use 9S to search for the pods. If he was willing to help her outright under the pretense of her being on a mission assigned from YoRHa, then all she would need to do was act the part of a regular YoRHa android until she was successful and could move on.

To move on was not as definite as she thought anymore. To die was a shattered goal. The memories of 2B infecting her own mind would not let her go painlessly, if at all. She knew she would be met with the same punishment should she give up 9S to the pods.

The memories of 2B manifested and helped A2 when she was alone in the deepest parts of her system without 9S. The memories were smart, rather 2B was insightful, so it did not surprise A2 too much that she understood the deceit the pods had planned, and to let him go was as bad as letting him die.

“What is my purpose?” she asked to herself, letting Anemone’s lecture take over her thoughts. A2 shook her mind away from the subject. She looked back to 9S who still held a hand to her shoulder.

“Everything ok, ma’am?”

“I want to get moving as soon as possible.”

9S nodded. “I understand the severity of your mission, and while it would be best to move as soon as possible, I’d suggest we need to be patient with your recovery.” He noticed A2 open her mouth to object. “But…” he interrupted, “I can speed up the process by a little to help you safely recover. It will involve me accessing your systems though. I promise I won’t poke around anything personal.” He held up his free hand to exaggerate his promise. “That’s the best I can do.”

A2 eased back against the wall and nodded. “Alright.”

9S took her hand off of her and brought up two holographic screens between the two of them. “This won’t hurt a bit. All you need to do is take it easy. Here I go.”

She felt his hacking module activate and pass through her systems. Without her dream of the sands and waves, there was little point for her to enter a rest cycle. Still, she let her senses lower to ease her into a sense of relaxation to give 9S an easier time.

A thought hit her. For the first time in years, she felt safe enough to let her guard down.

-

“So you don’t remember anything from the past few days?” A2 stretched her arms and back on the roof she had chosen for shelter. “Not even when you helped get the virus out of me?”

9S stood back against the outside wall of the concrete shed he and A2 utilized. He sorted through a few holo-screens displaying obscure data A2 did not recognize. “I’m not seeing anything that comes close to matching. In fact, my most recent memory seems to be acquiring my current mission. Back when I still had a visor, it seems. Do you know how much one of those costs to make and issue?—“

“You don’t find the gap in memory odd at all?”

“I guess the gap could be explained due to the mission being oddly classified, despite it being just a reconnaissance mission. Though considering my contact with the Bunker has been all but permanently cut off…” A holo-screen in front of him flashed the bold words ‘Signal Temporarily Disabled’. “… I guess they don’t want the machines infiltrating and tracing any communications to pinpoint the orbital path of the Bunker. Are there many machines in the part of the world? I haven’t seen any yet, come to think of it.”

A2 remembered taking on groups of machines that obtained a more primal, hungry mind-set, with mutilated bodies to match their new state. That was all she had seen that remained of the machine lifeforms. “A few. Maybe not what you’d be used to. Come on, I want to get moving.”

“Well, new machine lifeform data may be appreciated up there.” 9S flicked away his screens and pushed himself off of the wall while tightening the strap on his bag. “Right, we need to locate those pods before anything else does, or before they harm any other operating units in the area.” Without warning, he turned heel and walked away from A2.

“Hey, where the hell are you going?” She pointed towards what her map considered east. “The last time I encountered them was in this direction.”

“Oh, uh…” 9S hesitated in turning around. “I thought if we reached one of the taller buildings, it’d allow me to get a clear scan of the surrounding city.” He pointed to a skyscraper that stood with a slight tilt from time and to the north. “The one with the metal tower on top seems have adequate elevation. For efficiency, my suggestion is we head there.”

A2 had only ever met 9S under hostile situations, therefore she had only been introduced to his offensive capabilities. While it may be nothing special to him, being informed of his more practical capabilities was like seeing a new side of someone that hunted her down many times.

“Alright,” she said. “Lead on then.”

-

The subtle twitches under A2’s skin were a constant reminder of the rushed recovery she let 9S run on her. He explained they would die down after a while, that it was just the body catching up with itself. Though he did tell her to let him know if anything felt numb or if a twitch caused her pain. It reminded her of a doting nurse.

She admitted to herself that his work was more than impressive, considering the strength she had in her legs now compared to when she could not hold her own weight up. Said twitches were few and far between now, so maybe there was little to worry about. She told herself to thank him later and focus on reaching the skyscraper. She already felt like she was behind schedule from having stayed in a rest cycle far longer than planned, but she was still sluggish due to her sped-up recovery. Her body’s strength limiters lowered themselves from the usual 80% limit to 50%. She looked for a way around it, but she was stuck at with that limit unless she wanted to become a pitiful, twitching mess on the ground.

Such set backs were already too tedious for her. Climbing over and through smooth tower debris, baked in the heat of the sun, was pushing her limits further. The skyscraper’s area in the city ruins seemed to have been hit hardest by the tower’s collapse; she saw it as a miracle the skyscraper itself was still standing.

But the obstacles and detours were not what was pushing her patience.

“Do you know if there are other Attacker models still in operation like you at all? I’m not meaning to be offensive, but your model is pretty deprecated. Though if you wanted a silver lining in that fact, that makes you pretty rare! I read somewhere that humans placed rare things in high value. I wonder what else is considered rare these days by them—“

“Didn’t I ask you to shut up and focus a few minutes ago?” She turned to him, but kept watch over the roof tops behind him and what she hoped were empty windows. “I really need you to keep an eye on your radar for any hostile activity. I’m not getting taken by surprise again by those two pods.”

"I did run multiple scans about a minute ago to cover a few blocks in diameter around us, but the most I’ve picked up were the birds flying overhead, and that one moose we saw back there a few minutes ago.” He brought up his own map in a holo-screen for A2 to see, making sure it was zoomed out to view the entire area being scanned. “It baffles me that we haven’t come across any machine lifeforms yet. Though by the looks of this part of the city, the geography wouldn’t be too advantageous for either side of the war.”

“Lucky break for us.” The low polygon count for her GPS maps always frustrated A2, but 9S’ map, though still low in polygon count, was able to generate a bit more depth to allow for topographical details. She traced a finger along a path that showed little obstruction, though it would take more time, the twitch in her leg reminded her of her temporary limits. She swiped his screen to the side to close it out for him. “Let’s get moving.” She started towards the less obstructed streets.

“Yeah alright,” 9S said, following behind her with a slight jog. “I do have another question…”

“Not in the mood.”

“…Are you ok?”

Beyond her control, she froze, and a surge of emotion ran through A2’s chest and to her throat too suddenly for her to catch. She thought that another session of pain was coming, but this feeling may as well have been forgotten by her from how foreign it felt, yet she almost welcomed it without restraint. She still recalled the exact moment four years ago when that same feeling occurred once before in her life. Recalling what her thoughts were at the time was harder than ever. _How long has it been,_ she thought _, since someone like him asked me that?_

Anemone would ask her that question every hour of every day if she needed to. That’s what comrades, friends, do. 9S may as well have been a stranger in his current state, barely a colleague at best. Though for all she knew, he was only asking about her sped-up recovery.

“Ma’am, is everything alright? Why did we pause?”

A2 shook away her thoughts and resumed her pace, albeit slower than she intended. “I’m fine. The twitching is dying down.”

“Oh, then maybe it worked better than I expected! But I was asking how you are in general. You always seem a little, I guess ‘off’ is the word? I don’t know if it’s something I’m capable of fixing for you or not—“

“Why are you asking me that?” She told herself to breathe, to stay in control.

“Maybe it’s because I’m a scanner and over-observation is my job, but I’ve been getting the impression something is not ok. You hold your guard constantly, and your first instinct is to fight, as opposed to regulation of analyze, _then_ flee or fight. I just wanted to know if you’re ok up here.” He gestured to his own head.

“No, I meant what’s the point in asking me that?” The surging emotion did not stop. To place it as uncomfortable, as an irritating nuisance was an option. Still, it was warm and gave A2 some kind of comfort she had not experienced in years. Whether she wanted it to end or to let it intensify was a difficult decision. Would she feel like this again? Did she want to? “To you I’m another soldier, one replaced by better models already. What’s the point in caring how I am?”

A2 stopped walking when she heard the sound of 9S’s boots halt. She held both of her arms be their elbows close to her torso.

“The thing is,” he said, “I don’t get to work with a lot of other androids for missions. As a scanner, our duty is pretty solitary. Needless to say it gets a bit lonely…”

A2 turned around just enough to see him through her hair. His own blue eyes locked with hers and he smiled.

“… So I want to make sure that while I’m assisting you with your mission, I’m doing everything I can to help you. I would like to see you again someday, and if I can help you keep going another day then I’d consider this time and care well spent!”

“You don’t even know who I am.” She let her hair hide her eyes.

“But I trust you. From what you’ve told me we’ve already helped each other.” He gestured to the burns on his hand and her body. “I feel if I couldn’t trust you, I’d be dead, or worse. I’ve been meaning to say thank you, by the way. I hope the care I can provide for you is enough to show I mean it.”

The emotions would not let her speak. To keep them at bay took all of the energy she had. Too focused on staying in check, she almost jumped when 9S placed a hand to her shoulder. She noted that she didn’t even hear him walk over to her.

“If there’s anything you need, I’m right here for now.”

She didn’t need to see the smile. It was sincerity pure enough to be audible. She used the sensory input of his hand to focus on stepping back to reality, away from the emotional barrage.

“9S…” _I’m a deserter,_ is what she wanted to say. Perhaps he would show her some kind of mercy and kill her, but she thought the event over. Death did not feel like a final release, or any kind of mercy, to her.

“What is it ma’am?”

“Let go. And just call me A2. Cut it with the ‘ma’am’ crap.”

9S removed his hand, lowering it to his side. “Right, you got it, A2. That does have a better ring to it… Oh hey! We’re almost there!” He pointed town a street to the skyscraper a few city blocks away. The leaning structure was framed nicely by the ruing buildings on both sides of the street, along with the many overgrown trees and tower debris.

Before A2 could take the lead, 9S already took the front position for her. She let herself breathe to calm the emotional barrage in her. She finally remembered what she was thinking the last time she let emotions take her like this.

When it happened four years ago, she was with her squad mates after they first reached the surface for the Pearl Harbor mission. They had rescued her from her crashed and burning flight unit. They saw her as something more than a unit. There was a bond between them stronger than others that led them to save her.

It was the feeling she got when she decided to herself that those were the people she would protect and live to the end with. That she would die with, should it come to it.

She looked at 9S in front of her. While keeping some control, she felt the emotions rising again. 


End file.
